A high delegation of Peshmerga coordination and Iraqi joint forces met in Erbil, said a statement released by the Ministry of Peshmerga. They discussed the formation of joint brigades in Kirkuk, Makhmour, Khanaqin, western Mosul, and in coordination with joint centers between Baghdad and Erbil.
The formation of two joint brigades between the ministry of Peshmerga and Iraq's Ministry of Defence for the areas mentioned above is being discussed, Lieutenant General Jamal Eminki said in a press conference.
"The matter hasn't been resolved, yet. Our talks regarding the matter will continue in the upcoming days," he added, noting that they haven't reached an agreement regarding the brigade's budget just yet.
The Iraqi delegation is expected to discuss the budget with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, according to Jamal. "Any time the matter of the budget is resolved, there will be no problems in the formation of the joint brigades."
The ministry of Peshmerga announced the formation of two joint brigades of Iraqi and Peshmerga forces to counter Islamic State (ISIS) remnants in the disputed areas in July.
The US-led coalition was also present at the meeting on Thursday.
“The discussions regarding the Joint Brigades is an initiative that has been worked on for some time in light of some of the recent activity and attacks around the Kurdistan Coordination Line. Both sides saw it as very important to sit down and try to work through some of the issues they have agreed on previously,” said Brig. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, Military Advisor Group Director in a statement seen by Rudaw English.
This co-operation will reduce the threat of resurgence of ISIS, the statement added.
ISIS seized control of swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and Syria in 2019 but remains a threat on both sides of the border, carrying out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces.
The militant group last week set up a fake checkpoint in Makhmour, an area where there is a security vacuum between Kurdish and federal forces. It abducted at least five people and injured three others. Two of the abducted were released on Thursday.
In May, the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces opened a joint coordination centre in Makhmour, one of four designed to improve collaboration and intelligence-sharing to bring about some level of security to the disputed areas.
ISIS attacks in Iraq and Syria have increased between the months of April and July as they continue to operate a "low-level" but "well-entrenched" insurgency in rural areas, the Pentagon said in its latest quarterly report.
