BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Kurdistan region said on Thursday it has offered a joint Kurdish-Iraqi deployment at a strategic crossing into Turkey, with the participation of the US-led coalition that was helping fight Daesh.
The offer was disclosed hours after Iraqi armed forces accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of delaying the handover to Iraq of control of the borders with Turkey, Iran and Syria, and threatened to resume operations to capture Kurdish-held areas.
The KRG defense department said the offer was part of a “deconfliction” proposal made to the Iraqi government on Oct. 31.
The other points included a cease-fire on all fronts, continued cooperation in the fight against Daesh and a joint deployment in so-called disputed territories, which are areas claimed by both the KRG and the Iraqi central government.
The KRG “continues to welcome a permanent cease-fire on all fronts, deconfliction and the start of a political dialogue” with Baghdad, the Kurdish statement said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi ordered economic and military retaliation after Iraqi Kurds voted for independence in a referendum held in September that Baghdad declared illegal.
He insists that the KRG cancel the referendum’s outcome as a pre-condition for any dialogue. Iran and Turkey back his measures against Iraq’s Kurds, fearing the drive for independence will spread to their own Kurdish populations.
The joint deployment at the strategic Fish-Khabur crossing was meant “as a goodwill gesture and trust-building exercise that ensures a limited and temporary arrangement until an agreement is reached in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution,” the Kurdish statement said.
Fish-Khabur is strategically important for the Kurdistan region because it is the point where its oil pipeline crosses into Turkey.
Iraq’s entire land border with Turkey is located inside the Kurdish autonomous region and has been controlled by the Kurds since before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Abadi declared a pause on Friday in an offensive that began on Oct. 16 to take over the disputed areas. The oil-rich city of Kirkuk fell on the same day without much fighting.
The Iraqi Joint Operations Command accused the KRG on Wednesday of using the talks that started on Friday to “buy time” to strengthen Kurdish lines.
“We will not allow it; the federal forces are mandated to secure (the disputed) areas and borders,” it said in a statement.
The Kurdish Peshmerga command also accused Iraqi forces on Wednesday of massing weapons and threatening force to resolve “domestic political differences.”
Iraqi troops set up positions between Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish checkpoints on Tuesday at the Habur border crossing, between the Turkish town of Silopi and the Iraqi town of Zakho.
That meant vehicles crossing the border were subject to three separate checks. Eight members of Turkey’s security forces and five Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were killed in a clash early on Thursday near the border between northern Iraq and southeast Turkey, Turkish security and hospital sources said.
The PKK launched a separatist insurgency in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Kurds offer joint border deployment as Iraq threatens to resume military operations
Kurds offer joint border deployment as Iraq threatens to resume military operations
Iran FM criticizes Israel for ‘doctrine of domination’
- Doctrine allows Israel to expand its military arsenal while pressuring other countries in the region to disarm
- His remarks came a day after renewed nuclear talks with Washington in Oman
DOHA: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday criticized what he said was a “doctrine of domination” that allows Israel to expand its military arsenal while pressuring other countries in the region to disarm.
His remarks came a day after renewed nuclear talks with Washington, with previous talks collapsing when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran last June that triggered a 12-day war.
Araghchi was speaking at the Al Jazeera Forum conference in Qatar but made no reference to Friday’s talks with the United States.
“Israel’s expansionist project requires that neighboring countries be weakened: militarily, technologically, economically and socially,” Araghchi said.
“Under this project Israel is free to expand its military arsenal without limits ... Yet other countries are demanded to disarm. Others are pressured to reduce defensive capacity. Others are punished for scientific progress,” he added.
“This is a doctrine of domination.”
During the 12-day war Israel targeted senior Iranian military officials, nuclear scientists and sites as well as residential areas, with the US later launching its own attacks on key nuclear facilities.
Iran responded at the time with drone and missile attacks on Israel, as well as by targeting the largest US military base in the Middle East, located in Qatar.
On Friday, Araghchi led the Iranian delegation in indirect nuclear talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat.
The top Iranian diplomat later described the atmosphere as having been “very positive,” while US President Donald Trump said the talks were “very good,” with both sides agreeing to proceed with further negotiations.
The talks followed threats from Washington and its recent deployment of an aircraft carrier group to the region following Iran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests last month.
The United States has sought to address Iran’s ballistic missile program and its support for militant groups in the region — issues which Israel has pushed to include in the talks, according to media reports.
Tehran has repeatedly rejected expanding the scope of negotiations beyond the nuclear issue.
