The Iraqi military's Emergency Response Division moved into Taza, a district about 10 miles south of Kirkuk early Friday, seizing control of a military base. Kurdish forces provided no resistance.
The move came after the Iraqi military issued threats and a demand that Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers withdraw from areas around the city of Kirkuk, a Kurdish commander said.
Peshmerga senior commander Shiekh Jaafar said on Thursday after a meeting of high-ranking Kurdish leaders that Iraqi military leaders ordered them to withdraw from the city. He added that the Iraqis, which include the Hashd al-Shaabi, an group of militias allied with the Iraqi government against Islamic State forces, are preparing to make advances into Kurdish-controlled areas that include oil wells and Kirkuk's airport.
The Kurdistan Regional Government is taking the demands so seriously that Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani issued a statement Friday asking the United Nations, the United States and others to "urgently intervene to prevent a new war in the region."
The Iraqis, Jaafar said, ordered the Peshmerga to return to area behind the Green Line, an informal border that separated Kurdish and Iraqi forces prior to the involvement of the United States in 2003.
Kurdistan's Security Council said on Friday that Peshmerga forces must be "in [the] highest state of readiness to defend people and land of Kurdistan and retaliate against all threats [and] attacks."
It added that Iraqi and Hashd al-Shaabi forces were preparing to attack Kurdistani positions with "tanks, artillery, Humvees and mortars."
(UPI)
13/10/17
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