On October 27, an Iraqi official confirmed to France Press Agency (AFP) that the Iraqi Army is willing to take control over the Faysh Khabur border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border. The official told AFP that the Iraqi Army gave the Peshmerga “hours only to withdrew from Faysh Khabur”.
Meanwhile, the US-backed Syrian Democratic forces (SDF) announced, that Faysh Khabur border crossing is close for public due to security reasons. It’s believed that the SDF decision to close the border crossing is related to the Iraqi Army advance towards it.
Back on October 25 , the Iraqi Army 15th Divison secured the Rabia border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to Iraqi sources. An officer of the 15th division told the Turkish Anadolu Agency back then that the border crossing was fully secured after Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters had withdrawn from it.
With the Suwaidia border crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border already closed due to nearby clashes between the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army, the SDF-held area in Syria is now cut off from the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
If the Iraqi Army captures the Faysh Khabur border crossing it will not only isolate the SDF and the PKK in Syria from the Kurdistan Region, but it will also secure a strategic pipeline that allows Iraq to export its oil directly to Turkey.
This is more good news that will help prevent the US/Israel and their puppet Kurds looting Syrian and Iraqi assets.
Cooperation between Syria AND Iraq puts US decision makers into a dilemma, double dealing more difficult.
kill two birds with one stone, iraq and syria – sdf and kurds are doomed by their own bad choice – tks to ameritards, hell avic and wannabis
Karma.
Israel truly is finished. It may take two more decades, but the writing is on the wall: the dream of “Greater Israel” with the Antichrist leading them is done. What other card can they pull out of their sleeves?
It’s further complicated by the $ billions advanced to KRG by foreign oil comoanies, including Russia.
Clearly Iraq should control its borders, but also Iraq shouldn’t be allowed to destroy KRG economically either.
Closing the airports, firing the elected governor of Kurluk and invading militarily Kurdish held provinces created a lot of escalation instead of de fusing the conflict.
I think and hope it will be “selective” sanctioning.
Regards your last paragraph, the Iraqis must show the Kurds who is boss NOW, otherwise it will just repeat itself whenever the US decide to do it again.
Plenty of other ways to resolve government disputes as opposed to Saddam Style military action.
One easy step, would be to file a lawsuit in Iraqi Courts and let each party litigate and try and resolve the matter, legally.
Result of today’s meeting was Iraq gave Kurds only 4 hours to make a decision, the Kurds said they needed 5 days.
*Talking and negotiations are much preferable to people killing & dying.
It doesn’t matter if it takes, days or weeks or months, killing hundreds of people needlessly should not ever happen.
*As a practical matter, much of the disputed areas were under Kurdish political control prior to 2014.
*And Kirkuk Province & City are a special case since they were Kurdish for hundreds/thousands of years until the Arabization Program committed Cultural Genocide.
But now Kirkuk has much more Kurdish residents than it did before 2003, so it’s difficult to see how Iraq can expect to govern there.
Hold on; where are the SDF regards DaZ – they have totally overstretched their boundaries and caused a great deal of suffering for the Arab Iraqis and Syrians.
If you mean DeZ, Deir Ezzor; both the SDF & SAA are trying to recruit locall tribes to fight v ISIS and hold the areas. SAA has the advantage of having better connections with tribal leaders.
Isis is easily divided into 2 groups: Core ISIS and Local Allies.
A lot of the local Allies are willing to change sides and affiliate with SDF or SAA.
**Also, Today there are reports of massive fighting/casualties between Saa & Isis in Dez during sandstorm.
Thanks for info.
KRG was allowed to impede the Iraqi economy by their confiscation of Kirkirk oil assets . Now that the legal owners have regained possession , the oil companies will buy from them . Oil companies operating in war zones know better than to “advance billions” , but it makes for a great story .
The Kurds overplayed their hand by threatening the stability of Iraq , and so are reigned in .
The federal government will defuse the situation .
There are multiple reports in that the oil companies did advance billions to KRG, that’s not an issue in dispute.
You may be correct , however the oil companies have batteries of legal eagles quite willing and able to “follow the money” , even if the leadership of the KRG
has a less than perfect reputation . Business is risk , but I’m sure the money can be recovered in large part .
I believe the Iraqi federal government averted a civil war by taking strong action at the right time . We shall see .
I hope the US helps the Kurdish fight the shia iraq that they themselves helped before. Shias are a plague (in fact all Muslims are a problem for the west) Russia and the West should make a deal an divide the middle east among them, rescue the Christians and control the medieval Muslims (specially shia)
A Rojova official stated today that-
“The US/Kurdish relationship was restricted to the defeat of ISIS, and the long term future of coalition bases in Kurdistan was uncertain”.
Writing’s on the wall dude.
WTF? The Middle East is not anyone’s to own or divide. The Christians didn’t need much rescuing until Saudi Arabia’s expansion of the Wahhabi Death Cult terrorist factories and Qatar’s funding of the Muslim Brotherhood to counter Saudi influence. Both of these were done with the full knowledge and consent (and probably assistance) of the US and cronies.
Non-Wahhabi Sunni and Shia have lived side by side for centuries. How about we GTFO and regime-change Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Israel.
sunnis are the plague. shias are better.
The Iraqi Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline crosses the Tigris at the Fish Khabur crossing, both of which are about 2 km south of the town itself. The Fish Khabur pumping and export metering station on that same line is about 3 km northeast of the town. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline then crosses the border into Turkey at Ovakoy, about 10km NE of Fish Khabur.
The Kurds have diverted their share of oil revenue to increasing oilfield production and crude export out ‘their’ pipeline to Turkey – the Kurdish Crude Export Pipeline (also called Karmala – Fish Khabur Pipeline). They have spent little on maintenance on the Kurkuk field and production has fallen off. They haven’t maintained the Kirkuk – Ceyhan pipeline and pumping stations either. The recent Kurdish deals with Rosneft were to operate the Kurdish Crude Export Pipeline and build a new gas pipeline to export Kurdish gas north to/through Turkey.
Seems like this is Baghdad reclaiming their Kirkuk pipeline in preparation for dumping the oil revenue sharing deal and telling Kurds they can just keep whatever they can produce and export. There’s no way Baghdad is going to expect the Kurds to be honest about sharing future gas export revenues – same with oil. The Kurds, in turn, do not trust Baghdad. The Kurds may not have ever planned on sharing gas revenue with Baghdad, claiming its all theirs and will not be shared.
Baghdad didn’t care for the sweetheart (rip-off) deals the KRG made with US, UK and French oil companies in the past. The Kurds pretty much borrowed against the future production/revenues of new fields to get them into production. It might not be a bad idea for Baghdad to tell the Kurds to just keep whatever they make off of oil and gas. By next year, the Kurds should have oil/gas revenues close to what they have now even with the loss of Kirkuk oilfield.
The big loser in all this is – of course – the average Iraqi Kurd. The KRG is a thoroughly corrupt oil management enterprise now, not a government. Teachers and hospital staff will still be months behind in pay while the new Kurdish oil oligarchs continue to build their empire. Whatever isn’t spent on oil will be spent on overpriced weapons and armor to protect the government/oil oligarchs. Once again, the little people Kurds – who had virtually no say in all of this – are used, screwed and discarded.
This will probably all blow up as now Iraq is making unreasonable demands the KRG can’t meet. Which is bad for both.
Iraqis are failing to appreciate the very high liklihood that if they continue to press, then a YPG army will enter Iraq behind them and annihilate the Iraqi attacking force which will be trapped between KRG & YPG.
Classic Anvil & Hammer.