A New Chapter for Iraq?

[nrupatunga]

Iraqi Forces Launch Offensive Against ISIS in Tikrit, Baiji

Iraqi forces backed by U.S. air strikes have surrounded ISIS fighters in the northern city of Tikrit in a bid to isolate and choke off the fighters in Saddam Hussein's birthplace, according to senior local officials.

"Iraqi security forces were able to secure and control the road from Tikrit to Baiji," a Brigadier-General in Iraq's defense ministry told NBC News late Sunday, referring to the nearby town which is adjacent to a key oil refinery. "These forces are around the city of Baiji now, in order to retake it, but ISIS fighters are fighting hard to defend their position inside the city."

He added that government forces, which have been protecting the refinery since June, were preparing for a possible revenge attack by ISIS fighters if they lost control of Baiji, which has become a strategically important city for the extremist group. U.S. war planes have carried out air strikes around Tikrit on Saturday and Sunday, the general said. The action was a key reason for "the success of our forces," he said, adding that the city was now "completely surrounded" by Iraqi forces.

 

[amoy]

Iraqi Kurds to hold independence referendum in September

Image copyright REUTERS
Image caption Kirkuk's Kurdish-led council recently rejected calls from Baghdad to lower Kurdish flags

Top government officials and political parties in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region have agreed to hold a referendum on independence on 25 September.

The date was set at a meeting in Irbil chaired by President Massoud Barzani.

A statement said voting would take place in the three provinces that make up the region, and "areas of Kurdistan outside the region's administration".

There was no immediate comment from Iraq's central government, but it has urged Kurds not to hold a referendum.

Moves towards outright independence have historically been opposed by the governments of neighbouring Iran, Turkey and Syria, as well as by the US.

In April, senior Kurdish official Hoshyar Zebari told Reuters news agency that a "yes" vote would not necessarily mean independence would be declared.

Mr Zebari said it would merely help Kurds press their case for "the best deal" on self-determination once so-called Islamic State (IS) had been defeated in Iraq.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have played a major role in the US-backed campaign against the jihadist group, which seized large parts of northern Iraq in 2014.

But while driving IS militants out of the country, the Peshmerga have taken control of disputed territory claimed by both Kurds and the central government.

It includes the city of Kirkuk and the towns of Makhmour, Khanaqin and Sinjar - locations where President Barzani's senior assistant Hemin Hawrami declared voting would take place in September.

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption The date for the referendum was set at a meeting chaired by Massoud Barzani

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said holding an independence referendum now would be neither in the Kurdistan Region's interest nor Iraq's.

"The desire of our Kurdish brothers to create a country of their own is their right... and nobody has the right to deter them," he was quoted as saying by the Kurdish Rudaw news agency in April.

"But holding a referendum at this time is not right as the war [against IS] still rages, the region's situation is not suitable, and some neighbouring countries believe this move poses a threat to the nation's security themselves."

The head of Iraq's ruling Shia coalition, which includes Mr Abadi's Dawa party, meanwhile warned against any "unilateral" moves in the disputed areas.

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Eventually Kurds in Turkey, Syria, and (possibly) Iran would join to form the greater Kurdistan??

Would this have the same significance as the establishment of the State of Isreal??

 

[Kay]

Iraqi Kurds to hold independence referendum in September

Image copyright REUTERS
Image caption Kirkuk's Kurdish-led council recently rejected calls from Baghdad to lower Kurdish flags

Top government officials and political parties in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region have agreed to hold a referendum on independence on 25 September.

The date was set at a meeting in Irbil chaired by President Massoud Barzani.

A statement said voting would take place in the three provinces that make up the region, and "areas of Kurdistan outside the region's administration".

There was no immediate comment from Iraq's central government, but it has urged Kurds not to hold a referendum.

Moves towards outright independence have historically been opposed by the governments of neighbouring Iran, Turkey and Syria, as well as by the US.

In April, senior Kurdish official Hoshyar Zebari told Reuters news agency that a "yes" vote would not necessarily mean independence would be declared.

Mr Zebari said it would merely help Kurds press their case for "the best deal" on self-determination once so-called Islamic State (IS) had been defeated in Iraq.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have played a major role in the US-backed campaign against the jihadist group, which seized large parts of northern Iraq in 2014.

But while driving IS militants out of the country, the Peshmerga have taken control of disputed territory claimed by both Kurds and the central government.

It includes the city of Kirkuk and the towns of Makhmour, Khanaqin and Sinjar - locations where President Barzani's senior assistant Hemin Hawrami declared voting would take place in September.

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption The date for the referendum was set at a meeting chaired by Massoud Barzani

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said holding an independence referendum now would be neither in the Kurdistan Region's interest nor Iraq's.

"The desire of our Kurdish brothers to create a country of their own is their right... and nobody has the right to deter them," he was quoted as saying by the Kurdish Rudaw news agency in April.

"But holding a referendum at this time is not right as the war [against IS] still rages, the region's situation is not suitable, and some neighbouring countries believe this move poses a threat to the nation's security themselves."

The head of Iraq's ruling Shia coalition, which includes Mr Abadi's Dawa party, meanwhile warned against any "unilateral" moves in the disputed areas.

================================
Eventually Kurds in Turkey, Syria, and (possibly) Iran would join to form the greater Kurdistan??

Would this have the same significance as the establishment of the State of Isreal??

Good. Kurdistan is deserved and a potential Indian ally.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1225201/middle-east
BAGHDAD: A suicide bomb attack near a security checkpoint in the Iraqi capital killed at least five people on Saturday, a police officer said.

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, had earlier gave an “initial toll of three people killed and 11 wounded” in the attack.

The Baghdad military command said the suicide bomber targeted a checkpoint near Aden Square in northern Baghdad.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but most such attacks in Iraq are the work of the Islamic State jihadist group.

In December, the government announced the “end of the war” against IS, which has been expelled from the Baghdad region and urban areas of Iraq that it controlled.