Peshmerga to withdraw from Dilaya governorate

CAIRO – 16 October 2017: Raad al-Dahlaki, a member of the Iraqi parliament's migration committee, asserted that the Peshmerga forces will withdraw peacefully from various areas in Diyala governorate in northern Iraq on Monday.

Dahlaki told Iraqi media outlets that “the Peshmerga forces are expected to leave Village of Nye and Kifri villages located within the administrative area of the Diyala governorate.”

“The withdrawal will take place within a common understanding between Baghdad and Erbil without bloodshed in any of the villages mentioned above,” he added.

He praised the military operation in progress now upon orders from Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi, adding that Abadi reacted “wisely” with Kurdistan.

Kurdish sources revealed to Iraqi media outlets Monday that Kurdish parties have evacuated their headquarters in Diyala.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gave instructions that the Iraqi flag be hoisted on Kirkuk and other territories claimed by both the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Iraq's Kurdish security forces said Baghdad would pay a "heavy price" for launching an advance on the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk.

In a statement, the Peshmerga also accused a faction from one of the two main Iraqi Kurdish political parties of "treason" for assisting Baghdad with the advance.

In a statement issued on Monday, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Abadi said that “we tried to dissuade those in the [Kurdistan] region from holding it [referendum] and not violating the Constitution and to focus instead on the fight against Daesh [Islamic State], but they did not listen to our appeals. We demanded from them to cancel the results which also went unheeded.”

Abadi accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of ignoring the magnitude of the danger that Iraq and its people will be exposed to if the independence of Kurdistan takes place.