Iraqi Forces Launch ‘Major’ Kirkuk Operation

Iraqi security forces have launched a “major operation” in the Kurdish-held region of Kirkuk, advancing towards oil fields and a strategic military base, according to Kurdish and Iraqi officials. The army captured several positions south of Kirkuk, including the North Gas Company station, a nearby processing plant and the industrial district south of the city, an Iraqi military statement said on Monday. Al Jazeera reported that an Iraqi Kurdish commander said the fighting with Kurdish forces caused “lots of casualties”. Bahzad Ahmed, a spokesman for Kurdish forces, said the Iraqi troops have “burnt lots of houses and killed many people” in Toz Khormato and Daquq, south of the disputed city. Kurdish Peshmerga forces took control of oil-rich Kirkuk after the Iraqi army fled a major offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group in 2014. Since then, there has not been an agreement between the KRG and the federal government in Baghdad about who should control the area – and also benefit from its vast oil wealth.