ASSESSMENTS

Clashes in Kirkuk Bring Societal Divisions Into Focus

Oct 16, 2017 | 17:44 GMT

Iraqi forces drive toward peshmerga positions on Oct. 15 near Kirkuk.

(AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Baghdad has exercised its military power swiftly in Kirkuk province, reasserting territorial control over critical infrastructure.
  • A likely agreement between Baghdad and certain members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to leave areas of Kirkuk province protected will exacerbate divisions within the PUK party and between the PUK and the ruling Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).
  • Conditions are ripe for civil conflict between not only the governments of Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, but also between the Kurds and other ethno-sectarian groups, including Turkmen and Arab groups.

Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have quickly captured critical infrastructure points in Iraq's Kirkuk province and in the surrounding areas. After beginning its operation overnight Oct. 15, the Iraqi military has reportedly taken control of the North Oil Company and North Gas Company headquarters, Kurdistan's K1 military base, the Bai Hassan oil field and the Baba Gurgur and Avanah domes of the Kirkuk oil field. Currently, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) claims to still hold some of the oil fields in the area. The Iraqi government's purpose for the operation is to reassert federal control over the disputed province of Kirkuk's most strategic assets, which fell under the control of the Kurdish peshmerga after the Islamic State rose to power there in 2014. But the pace of the ISF's advance appears to have been hastened by newly exposed splits within both the two main Kurdish political parties and the region's powerful but...

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