Turkey’s military General Staff claimed on Tuesday that its “Operation Olive Branch,” an invasion of Afrin in northern Syria, killed “at least 260” Kurdish and Islamic State terrorists. The United States and its Syrian Kurdish allies have both denied there being a significant ISIS presence in that area.
Turkish media have confirmed that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Paris on Tuesday as U.S. envoys arrive in Ankara to discuss the “struggle against terrorism,” a salient topic as Turkey continues its military invasion of Syrian Kurdish territories on its border.
An official with Iraq’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) told reporters this week that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga may deploy to Syria to fight the Turkish military if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists on “Operation Olive Branch,” the Turkish name for that nation’s invasion of Syria.
Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli affirmed that the Turkish military would cross into Syrian territory and attack U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in that country on Friday, a move that may trigger direct clashes between Turkey and the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported on Thursday that Syrian Kurdish fighters and Turkish soldiers traded “harassment” and “artillery fire” on the border of the two countries, a sign that the two sides may resort to openly attacking each other as tensions soar in the region.
The Iran-backed, mostly Shiite militias he legalized last year revoked their electoral support for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Wednesday, two days after officially endorsing him.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is seeking aid from the Vatican and, reportedly, the normalization of ties to Iran three months after President Donald Trump announced Washington would not “take sides” between its longtime allies, the Kurds, and the Iran-backed regime in Baghdad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced a bid for re-election on Sunday with the support of anti-American, Iran-backed Shiite militias that have turned their guns on the pro-U.S. Iraqi Kurds following the demise of the Islamic State in Mosul.
Contents: Thousands of Kurds in violent protests against Kurdistan government in northern Iraq; Iraq’s Baghdad government splits over role of Iran-backed Shia militias
The head of Iran’s Navy, Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, promised in his first speech since his appointment to “fly the Iranian flag in the Gulf of Mexico,” encouraging Navy officers to consider an Iranian presence in the Atlantic Ocean a pivotal goal and soon-to-be routine occurrence.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday that the United States does not deem it “necessary” to appoint a new envoy to help resolve tensions between Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Factions of the Iran-backed, largely Shiite militia coalition known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) began fighting each other on Tuesday in Iraqi territory they wrested out of the hands of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), according to a Kurdish news outlet.
The Kurdish outlet Rudaw reported on Tuesday that Baghdad had prevented Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) hospitals from replenishing their medical supplies, endangering the lives of many patients in the region and the security of the many displaced by war who have flocked to Erbil for sanctuary.
TEL AVIV – Iraq’s parliament voted unanimously to criminalize displaying the Israeli flag in public, likely in response to September’s Kurdish independence referendum for which Israel expressed open support.
The U.S. State Department reiterated that it supports “more voices, not fewer” in international media in response to a string of legal actions against journalists and a particularly gruesome murder in Iraq, where Baghdad appears to be attempting to shut down all Kurdish voices.
Kurds protested in front of the White House on Monday to call on the U.S. to protect people in Kurdistan Iraq from Shi’ite militia attacks
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has once again demanded that the Kurdish armed forces, the Peshmerga, allow him to take over as their commander-in-chief or significantly diminish in size, apparently taking advantage of Kurdish President Masoud Barzani’s announcement that he would step down from his role on November 1.
A Christian NGO has urged the international community to protect minority populations as Iranian-backed Shia militias and Iraqi army continues to persecute Christians in Peshmerga-controlled areas.
TEL AVIV – Iraqi Kurdistan’s warnings that it could face another genocide at the hands of the growing alliance between Iraq and Iranian forces in the region if the West continues to ignore its predicament are legitimate, an expert on Islamic terror said on Wednesday.
TEL AVIV – In its ongoing attempt to drive the U.S. and Iraq apart, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iraq’s U.S.-backed prime minister on Thursday that America was not to be trusted and he should not depend on it when fighting the Islamic State, Reuters reported quoting Iran’s state TV.
Reports on Friday morning indicated that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga had reached a ceasefire agreement with the Iraqi military, which began an invasion into Kurdish territory following September’s independence referendum in Kurdistan.
The government of Iraq has rejected an offer from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “freeze” the results of Septembers referendum, in which over 90 percent of KRG residents said they would support secession from Iraq.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), a minority party in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, has warned that continued attacks by the Iraqi military and Iran-backed Shiite militias could result in another “genocide” campaign against the ethnic group.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq announced on Wednesday that it would be open to “freezing” the results of the September referendum asking Kurds whether they would support the creation of a sovereign KRG state.
Kurdish authorities estimate that 100,000 people have fled Kirkuk, Iraq this week – formerly under control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) but now lost to the Baghdad government and its Iran-backed Shiite militia allies.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq announced it had signed a deal with the Russian state-owned oil corporation Rosneft that would allow the company to begin developing oil blocks worth a potential $400 million to the Kurds.
The Kurdish outlet Rudaw has published a video allegedly showing a member of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shiite Iran-backed militias, hanging a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in the Kirkuk, Iraq, governorate’s building.
Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Rob Manning told reporters on Monday that the U.S. military could potentially reconsider supporting the Iraqi military if attacks on Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) territory continued, emphasizing that he would not “speculate” on any future actions at the moment.
As President Barack Obama departed office, he assured us he was leaving behind a much safer world. He lied.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton spoke to Breitbart News Daily Sirius XM host Alex Marlow Monday, coming out strongly in support of Iraqi Kurdistan in its bid for independence and criticizing American ties to the Iraqi national government, which he described as “dominated by Iran.”
President Donald Trump has yet to personally weigh in – either through official White House outlets or on Twitter – on the burgeoning civil war in Kirkuk, Iraq following the invasion of the Kurdish-held province by Iraqi soldiers and Iran-backed Shiite militias.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has deployed 6,000 Peshmerga troops to the disputed Kirkuk region in Iraq, as Shiite militias have reportedly approached the city under the auspices of the government in Baghdad, which has rejected the KRG’s independence referendum.
Contents: Iraqi troops and tanks seen massing near Kirkuk, poised to attack Kurds; Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas announce unity agreement; Turkey’s tanks and troops cross border into Syria’s Idlib in apparent truce with HTS
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which voted to secede from Iraq last month, warned on Twitter Wednesday that Erbil had intelligence that the government in Baghdad was planning a “major attack” on its military, the Peshmerga, in the disputed region of Kirkuk.
The Iraqi government will attempt to reopen an oil pipeline into Turkey which bypasses the autonomous region of Kurdistan, the country’s oil ministry has announced.
The U.S. is still poking the eyes of the Kurds in Iraq for their referendum on independence, with the State Department declaring that the Kurds’ vote is “illegitimate” and that America opposes an independent state for the Kurds.
Contents: Hundreds of ISIS fighters surrender as Iraqi town of Hawija falls; Tensions grow between Turkmens and Kurds in Kirkuk
Yeni Safak, a Turkish newspaper known for its support of Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of “support” for the Islamic State, despite the KRG’s pivotal role in fighting the jihadist group.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appeared to extend an olive branch to the breakaway Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in remarks in Paris on Thursday, urging Kurdish Peshmerga military forces to “work together” with Baghdad’s army.
Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has rejected calls from Baghdad to “cancel” the results of the September referendum on independence, asserting that the government cannot annul the will of its people.