Iraqi and Kurdish forces agree on ceasefire, US-led coalition says

Middle East Eye ^ | 27 Oct 2017 | MEE and agencies

[huldah1776]

Fighting had been on-going over the Fishkhabur border post which is a crucial economic lifeline for the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq

Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reached an agreement on Friday to stop fighting in northern Iraq, the media office of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition said.

A spokesman for the coalition in Baghdad told Reuters the ceasefire agreement covered all fronts.

The announcement comes after Iraqi forces set a tight deadline on Friday for Kurdish fighters to withdraw from an area on the Turkish border that is critical for oil exports.

A senior government security source, asking not to be named, said Kurdish peshmerga fighters were being given "a few hours" to pull out of the area around the Fishkhabur border post.

Clashes between the two sides had ceased "with only occasional exchanges of fire", said the source.

Iraqi forces on Thursday mounted a new assault on Kurdish fighters in the disputed oil-rich Zummar area of Nineveh province, triggering heavy artillery exchanges.

snip

The Fishkhabur region, at the extreme edge of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan and where the Turkish, Iraqi and Syrian borders converge, is of strategic importance to both Baghdad and the Kurds of northern Iraq.

The Kurds have been defending the Zummar and Rabiya areas of Fishkhabur because they are used by Kurdish forces battling IS in Syria to smuggle out fuel products by tanker trucks to Turkey, according to the Iraqi source.

Nicholas Heras, [from] the Centre for a New American Security, told the Washington Post that the fall of the border crossing to Iraq forces could prove a damaging blow to US policy in Syria.

“Fishkhabur is more than just a border gate: it is the essential doorway for long-term American influence in Syria," he said.

"And Iran wants to slam that gate shut.”

[huldah1776]

Tillerson is going to age more than the president. I wonder what Mattis would do? Who would win at the game of "Risk?" Mattis or Tillerson?

[DIRTYSECRET]

Not a good idea. Kurdistan will have to shoot it’s way into recognition.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks huldah1776.

Nicholas Heras, [from] the Centre for a New American Security, told the Washington Post that the fall of the border crossing to Iraq forces could prove a damaging blow to US policy in Syria. “Fishkhabur is more than just a border gate: it is the essential doorway for long-term American influence in Syria," he said.