Iraqi forces, Kurdish Peshmerga agree on ceasefire, Kurdistan says

Reuters ^ | 10/27/2017 | Maher Chmaytelli

[SeekAndFind]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters reached an agreement on Friday to stop fighting in northern Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said, although the status of any ceasefire remained unclear.

A spokesman in Baghdad for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State earlier said the deal covered all fronts in the conflict, which broke out after Kurdish authorities held an independence referendum last month in areas of northern Iraq.

However, he later told Reuters that the truce had not been officially agreed, while an Iraqi military spokesman declined to comment.

According to the KRG, which is based in the Kurdish autonomous region’s capital of Erbil, the ceasefire entered effect at 1 am on Friday (2200 GMT Thursday).

“The ceasefire is holding,” Vahal Ali, the director of KRG President Masoud Barzani’s media office, told Reuters. “Diplomatic efforts are underway to set a date for talks to start between Erbil and Baghdad.”

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urging for dialogue to start, the Iraqi central government said in a statement.

Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed militias and Kurdish troops fought alongside each other to defeat Islamic State, also called ISIS, but the alliance has faltered with the militants largely defeated in the country.

[TBP]

I don’t trust the Iraqiranians.

[BeauBo]

Great news, Thank God.

This would signal a halt of Iranian advance.

[Texas Fossil]

It has been later qualified. Now it is a 24 hour cease fire.

Nothing is ever easy dealing with Iranians.

[DesertRhino]

“Kurdistan says...”

There isn’t a kurdistan...

[raiderboy]

As long as the Kurds realize they live in Iraq nobody needs to die but when they try to take sovereign territory they are all going to die.The Kurds are communist to the bone and I dont care what happens to them.