Iraqi forces, Kurdish troops clash near strategic Syrian border
American military, aid groups worry about protracted fight
BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces backed by Iranian-allied militias began an assault Thursday to reclaim more Kurdish-held territory, advancing toward a crossing in the western border region that provides the only access for U.S. military operations in northern Syria.
A protracted fight over border crossings could severely disrupt American military activity in neighboring Syria. It could also strain the ability of aid organizations to provide desperately needed supplies to the nearly 300,000 civilians who fled fighting in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which U.S.-backed forces reclaimed from the Islamic State militant group earlier this month.
The fresh assault in northern Iraq came as Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi dismissed a Kurdish offer for a cease-fire amid tensions over the Kurds’ referendum last month in favor of independence from Baghdad.
The new clashes signal that Baghdad is determined to follow through on its goal of exerting full control over all of Iraq’s borders, including those in the north that had been operated by the semi-automonous Kurdish Regional Government and served as an economic lifeline for it.
The pro-Baghdad forces set out at dawn from the town of Zummar, north of Mosul. The plan appeared to be to gain control of the Syrian border crossing from Kurdish fighters, known as the peshmerga, and then sweep toward the main border crossing with Turkey — which has been the most important outlet for Kurdish commerce for decades.
Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said the fighting has negatively affected the international coalition’s efforts to defeat the Islamic State, citing the inability to move military equipment and supplies to allied forces in Iraq and Syria.
Dillon said that the majority of the flights carrying humanitarian supplies into Syria have not been disrupted but that the transport of heavy military equipment that cannot be flown in has been affected. This stems from an inability to coordinate with Iraqi and peshmerga senior officers, who have been unavailable because of the ongoing fight, Dillon said.
Speaking during a visit to Iran on Thursday, Abadi said he would not accept anything less than a full annulment of the Kurdish referendum. The vote set off the ongoing crisis, in which Iraqi forces have entered disputed areas for the first time since 2014.
Kurdish leaders offered Wednesday to “suspend” the referendum results in exchange for Iraqi forces stopping their advance. Some of the areas Iraqi troops are moving on have been controlled by Kurds since 2003.
In an interview on Tuesday with The Washington Post, Abadi reiterated that asserting Iraqi government control over disputed areas included all borders.
“The borders should be run by the federal state,” he said. “This is the exclusive authority of the Iraqi and federal government to do this, and we intend to complete this task.”