BAGHDAD: Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Friday reached an agreement for the handover of airports and border crossings to Baghdad, and the redeployment of federal forces, within 24 hours, federal officials told Arab News.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s media office said he had ordered a halt to the movement of federal forces for 24 hours so a technical team of federal and regional forces can work to deploy federal forces in all disputed areas and the Habur border crossing.
A senior federal security official told Arab News that the agreement was supervised by the US-led coalition fighting Daesh in Iraq.
The KRG has agreed to withdraw all Kurdish forces from disputed areas next to Irbil and Duhok provinces, hand over airports and border crossings to federal security forces, and publically announce the cancelation of the results of last month’s independence referendum.
This will be followed by the formation of a high-level Kurdish political delegation in order to start talks with Baghdad based on the constitution.
“A federal security delegation will travel to Irbil to discuss mechanisms to implement the agreement and the handover of airports and border crossings,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
“If the terms of the agreement aren’t implemented in 24 hours, federal troops will resume action and push to achieve the last targets of the military campaign.”
Federal security forces repositioned near the outskirts of Irbil, and were pushing to gain control of the northern border triangle between Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
The area contains an oil pipeline used by the KRG to export oil. Clashes erupted there last week between advancing federal troops and Kurdish forces, with fatalities on both sides.
Field military sources told Arab News that the situation on the frontlines is calm, and federal forces have not left their positions since Thursday night.
“Generally there’s calm on all fronts, and there have been no movements or clashes between federal forces and Kurdish forces today (Friday),” Lt. Gen. Jabar Yawar, general secretary of the Peshmerga Ministry, told Arab News.
Friday’s cease-fire was agreed amid US pressure on Al-Abadi, sources told Arab News. The deal was reached after a 15-minute phone call between KRG President Masoud Barzani and Al-Abadi. The call followed a meeting of military leaders from both sides, sources said.
Another high-level security meeting, headed by Al-Abadi, was held in Baghdad to discuss the agreement, and resulted in the formal announcement of the cease-fire, a source involved in the meeting told Arab News.
“The cease-fire is holding,” said Vahal Ali, director of Barzani’s media office. “Diplomatic efforts are underway to set a date for the beginning of talks between Irbil and Baghdad.”
In an interview with Kurdish TV Rudaw, the spokesman of the US-led anti Daesh coalition in Baghdad, Col. Ryan Dillon, called on the two sides to extend the deal to a complete halt in hostility and “refocus our efforts on defeating ISIS (Daesh).”
He added: “We are encouraging dialogue, we are trying to get the tensions down.”
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Al-Abadi urging for dialogue to start, the Iraqi central government said in a statement.
Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed militias and Kurdish troops fought alongside each other to defeat Daesh, but the alliance has faltered with the militants largely defeated in the country.
Iraqi government forces and the Tehran-backed Popular Mobilization launched a surprise offensive on Oct. 16 in retaliation to the Sept. 25 independence referendum organized by the KRG.
The offensive aims to capture disputed territories, claimed by both the KRG and the Iraqi central government, as well as border crossings and oil facilities.
The city of Kirkuk, which lies in an oil producing area, fell to Iraqi forces without much resistance on Oct. 16 but the Peshmerga began to fight back as they withdrew closer to the Kurdish autonomous region.
The most violent clashes happened in the northwestern corner where Peshmerga are defending land crossings to Turkey and Syria and an oil hub that controls KRG crude exports, located in the region of Fish-Khabur.
Baghdad, Kurdistan Regional Government agree to end disputes
Baghdad, Kurdistan Regional Government agree to end disputes
Syrian army pushes into Aleppo district after Kurdish groups reject withdrawal
- Two Syrian security officials told Reuters the ceasefire efforts had failed and that the army would seize the neighborhood by force
ALEPPO, Syria: The Syrian army said it would push into the last Kurdish-held district of Aleppo city on Friday after Kurdish groups there rejected a government demand for their fighters to withdraw under a ceasefire deal.
The violence in Aleppo has brought into focus one of the main faultlines in Syria as the country tries to rebuild after a devastating war, with Kurdish forces resisting efforts by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government to bring their fighters under centralized authority.
At least nine civilians have been killed and more than 140,000 have fled their homes in Aleppo, where Kurdish forces are trying to cling on to several neighborhoods they have run since the early days of the war, which began in 2011.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Standoff pits government against Kurdish forces
• Sharaa says Kurds are ‘fundamental’ part of Syria
• More than 140,000 have fled homes due to unrest
• Turkish, Syrian foreign ministers discuss Aleppo by phone
ِA ceasefire was announced by the defense ministry overnight, demanding the withdrawal of Kurdish forces to the Kurdish-held northeast. That would effectively end Kurdish control over the pockets of Aleppo that Kurdish forces have held.
CEASEFIRE ‘FAILED,’ SECURITY OFFICIALS SAY
But in a statement, Kurdish councils that run Aleppo’s Sheikh Maksoud and Ashrafiyah districts said calls to leave were “a call to surrender” and that Kurdish forces would instead “defend their neighborhoods,” accusing government forces of intensive shelling.
Hours later, the Syrian army said that the deadline for Kurdish fighters to withdraw had expired, and that it would begin a military operation to clear the last Kurdish-held neighborhood of Sheikh Maksoud.
Two Syrian security officials told Reuters the ceasefire efforts had failed and that the army would seize the neighborhood by force.
The Syrian defense ministry had earlier carried out strikes on parts of Sheikh Maksoud that it said were being used by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to launch attacks on the “people of Aleppo.” It said on Friday that SDF strikes had killed three army soldiers.
Kurdish security forces in Aleppo said some of the strikes hit a hospital, calling it a war crime. The defense ministry disputed that, saying the structure was a large arms depot and that it had been destroyed in the resumption of strikes on Friday.
It posted an aerial video that it said showed the location after the strikes, and said secondary explosions were visible, proving it was a weapons cache.
Reuters could not immediately verify the claim.
The SDF is a powerful Kurdish-led security force that controls northeastern Syria. It says it withdrew its fighters from Aleppo last year, leaving Kurdish neighborhoods in the hands of the Kurdish Asayish police.
Under an agreement with Damascus last March the SDF was due to integrate with the defense ministry by the end of 2025, but there has been little progress.
FRANCE, US SEEK DE-ESCALATION
France’s foreign ministry said it was working with the United States to de-escalate.
A ministry statement said President Emmanuel Macron had urged Sharaa on Thursday “to exercise restraint and reiterated France’s commitment to a united Syria where all segments of Syrian society are represented and protected.”
A Western diplomat told Reuters that mediation efforts were focused on calming the situation and producing a deal that would see Kurdish forces leave Aleppo and provide security guarantees for Kurds who remained.
The diplomat said US envoy Tom Barrack was en route to Damascus. A spokesperson for Barrack declined to comment. Washington has been closely involved in efforts to promote integration between the SDF — which has long enjoyed US military support — and Damascus, with which the United States has developed close ties under President Donald Trump.
The ceasefire declared by the government overnight said Kurdish forces should withdraw by 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Friday, but no one withdrew overnight, Syrian security sources said.
Barrack had welcomed what he called a “temporary ceasefire” and said Washington was working intensively to extend it beyond the 9 a.m. deadline. “We are hopeful this weekend will bring a more enduring calm and deeper dialogue,” he wrote on X.
TURKISH WARNING
Turkiye views the SDF as a terrorist organization linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and has warned of military action if it does not honor the integration agreement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking on Thursday, expressed hope that the situation in Aleppo would be normalized “through the withdrawal of SDF elements.”
Though Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda commander who belongs to the Sunni Muslim majority, has repeatedly vowed to protect minorities, bouts of violence in which government-aligned fighters have killed hundreds of Alawites and Druze have spread alarm in minority communities over the last year.
The Kurdish councils in Aleppo said Damascus could not be trusted “with our security and our neighborhoods,” and that attacks on the areas aimed to bring about displacement.
Sharaa, in a phone call with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Friday, affirmed that the Kurds were “a fundamental part of the Syrian national fabric,” the Syrian presidency said.
Neither the government nor the Kurdish forces have announced a toll of casualties among their fighters from the recent clashes.
