Kurds back to pre-isil lines after giving up Mosul dam to Iraqi government forces

IRAQI Kurds suffered a second day of losses yesterday as Iraqi government forces continued their advance and Kurdish leaders fought among themselves over who was to blame for their stunning setback.

One day after abandoning the oilrich city of Kirkuk, Kurdish forces also retreated from the north-west Sinjar region and surrendered the Mosul dam and several towns near the Iranian border.

As the sun went down, the Kurds had given up all of the gains they had made since the beginning of the fight against the Islamic State (Isil) in 2014 and were almost back to the lines they held in 2003 before the invasion of Iraq.

Masoud Barzani, the Kurdish president and the driving force behind the independence referendum that sparked the government offensive, refused to resign despite widespread speculation that he would.

After days of silence, Mr Barzani, who has staked his legacy on achieving independence for the Kurds, called on his supporters to “avoid civil war”.

The Peshmerga’s decision not to fight has led to speculation that a behind-the-scenes deal has been agreed between Kurdish parties and Baghdad, which may consist of a handover of disputed areas in return for an internally-recognised independent state.

Mr Barzani appeared to place the blame for the Kurdish collapse in Kirkuk on his political rivals in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

“What happened in the battle of Kirkuk was the result of a unilateral decision taken by some individuals affiliated with the internal political party in Kurdistan. The result of this decision resulted in the withdrawal of the Peshmerga forces in this manner and the way everyone saw,” he said in a statement.

Mr Barzani insisted that the September independence vote “won’t be in vain” and promised that the Kurdish people would have a state of their own “sooner or later”.

‘The battle was the result of a decision taken by individuals affiliated with a party in Kurdistan’

The advance of the Iraqi government forces and their Shia militia allies was rich with humiliation for the Kurds. Iraqi soldiers trampled on Kurdish flags and tore down posters of Mr Barzani in Kirkuk. The newlyinstalled governor of Kirkuk silenced the city’s police chief when he tried to speak in Kurdish and ordered him to speak Arabic instead.

The advance so far has seen relatively little fighting, with Kurdish forces retreating rather than confronting government troops. One hospital reported receiving the bodies of 25 Kurdish fighters while the US said it had reports of three to 11 people killed in clashes.

Thousands of Kurds had fled from Kirkuk as Iraqi forces advanced, fearing reprisal attacks by government troops or militiamen, but yesterday some of them began to return to their homes.

The fighting between the Iraqi government and Kurdish forces has dismayed the US, which sees both sides as allies in the fight against Isil. “We’re not taking sides, but we don’t like the fact that they’re clashing,” said President Donald Trump.