Video - Could Kurdish independence dream lead to a new Iraq war?

Kurdish representative Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman and Iraq scholar Abbas Kadhim debate the future of Kurdish independence.

Two years on and with a fresh joint offensive against ISIL under way, calls for Kurdish independence are getting stronger. But in the absence of any real power-sharing negotiations with the Iraqi government, some are left wondering if the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) is making a landgrab instead.

The KRG - with its own executive leadership, armed forces and diplomats abroad - is able to sign oil deals with foreign companies on its own. But the KRG say they are being held back: that the Peshmerga are not armed or trained properly, and that they cannot tap into the international market as freely as they would like.

If the autonomous Kurdish region were to declare independence, what would it mean to war-torn Iraq? Could it spark a new war?

'Sometimes NATO Ally & ISIL Airforce' - Turkish jets strike U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria.

'Sometimes NATO Ally' - Turkish jets strike U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria. (Yahoo).

ISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkish jets pounded a U.S.-backed group of Kurdish-led militia fighters in northern Syria with more than 20 air strikes overnight, highlighting the conflicting agendas of the two NATO allies in an increasingly complex battlefield.

The jets targeted positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in three villages northeast of the city of Aleppo which the SDF had captured from Islamic State, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late on Wednesday.

The Turkish military confirmed its warplanes had carried out 26 air strikes on areas recently taken by the Kurdish YPG militia, the strongest force in the SDF, and that it had killed between 160 and 200 fighters.

The British-based Observatory monitoring group reported a much lower toll of 11 dead and dozens wounded. Officials of the Kurdish-led administration that controls much of northeastern Syria said dozens had been killed.

The air strikes, the heaviest against the YPG since Turkey launched a military incursion into Syria two months ago, came hours after President Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey could act alone in rooting out its enemies abroad.

They also came ahead of an expected visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter to Ankara on Friday.

"From now on we will not wait for problems to come knocking on our door, we will not wait until the blade is against our bone and skin, we will not wait for terrorist organizations to come and attack us," Erdogan said in a speech on Wednesday. Hmmmm.....Erdogan Obama's BFF. Read the full story here.

Related:

Jaysh al-Thuwar (The Army of Revolutionaries) Media Center has announced that Turkey and the gangs attacked simultaneously and the revolutionary forces retaliated strongly against the attacks.
In their statement, Jaysh al-Thuwar said that following the bombing by Turkish aircraft, Turkey’s gangs attacked El Hisiyê and the Shehba Dam to invade.

The statement says the gangs in “Euphrates Shield” attacked from the north of the dam and ISIS gangs attacked from the Al-Wehshiyê and Tal Midîq side simultaneously, and that the “Euphrates Shield” gangs attempted to invade Al-Hesiyê from the Tal Malid village side.


Jaysh al-Thuwar said, “Our forces are retaliating strongly against the invading Turkish army. As a result of attacks by gangs allied with Turkey and ISIS gangs, there are intense clashes around the Shehba Dam and Al-Hesiye.”

Kurdish Militants to Attack Dam Sites, Saying Turkey Violated Ceasefire.

Kurdish Militants to Attack Dam Sites, Saying Turkey Violated Ceasefire. (NDTV).

Ankara: Kurdish militants will attack Turkey's dam construction sites in the mainly Kurdish southeast, the group said in a statement late on Saturday, another blow to a fragile peace process meant to end a three-decade insurgency.

The Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), the Kurdish militants' umbrella political group, on Saturday issued a statement saying that Turkey's construction of military outposts, dams and roads for military purposes had violated the ceasefire.

"The Turkish state took advantage of the ceasefire conditions not for a democratic political resolution but to gain an advantageous position in preparation of war by building dozens of guard posts, roads for military purposes and dams in order for a cultural genocide," the statement said.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched a separatist armed struggle in 1984 before moderating its goal to improving the rights of Turkey's roughly 12 million Kurds.

The Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), an organization inside the PKK, said in a statement that the Turkish government by building an excessive number of dams and security stations in Kurdish areas dishonored the ceasefire that had been sustained since 2012.

“The number of dams that were built is highly disproportionate with the Kurdish region’s energy producing capacity,” said KCK. It added that the Turkish government was previously warned to stop building the dams.

The KCK threatened that it will target the dams and asked people working in those projects to leave.

The KCK claimed the Turkish government has targeted Kurdish citizens and used them as human shields, which resulted in civilian deaths, suggesting that there is a military intention behind building the dams and security stations.

“Our guerrillas with responsibility pledged themselves to honor the ceasefire since the beginning of the process, but the Turkish government with its arbitrary actions has already resumed the war against the Kurdish people,” read the statement.

“The government has started the war against the Kurds and we will not remain silent,” it added. Read the full story here. More here.

China says Uighurs being sold as 'cannon fodder' for Islamist extremist groups.

China says Uighurs being sold as 'cannon fodder' for Islamist extremist groups. (Yahoo).

Uighurs from China's Xinjiang are being given Turkish identity papers in Southeast Asia by Turkish diplomats and then taken to Turkey where some are sold to fight for groups like Islamic State as "cannon fodder", a senior Chinese official said.

Beijing says the Turkic language-speaking Uighur minority are firstly Chinese nationals, and those who flee China should be returned to their home region in the far west of the country bordering central Asia.

"Turkish embassies in Southeast Asia will give them proof of identity," Tong Bishan, division chief of the Ministry of Public Security's Criminal Investigation Department, told a small group of foreign reporters in Beijing on Saturday.

"They are obviously Chinese but they will give them identities as Turkish nationals."

The accusation is likely to further anger Ankara, already alarmed by the return of more than 100 Uighurs to China from Thailand this week. Some Turks see themselves as sharing a common cultural and religious heritage with their Uighur "brothers".

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Uighurs keen to escape unrest in China's western Xinjiang region, have traveled clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey. China is home to about 20 million Muslims spread across its vast territory, only a portion of whom are Uighurs Tong said that hundreds of Uighurs had been given documents by Turkish diplomats, especially in Kuala Lumpur, and then allowed into Turkey. Neither the Turkish Foreign Ministry nor the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur were able to immediately provide comment.

But upon arriving, they have no chance of finding legal work and some end up with extremist groups, Tong said, like the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which Beijing accuses of waging an insurrection campaign in Xinjiang to set up their own state.

"They are very easily controlled by certain local forces, especially the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and other terrorist groups. They organize the youths, they brainwash them, and get them to the front line to fight. They are cannon fodder," Tong said.

"There is competition for them. Some are sent to Iraq, some to Syria. The terrorist groups there lack people. They will snatch people away. The terrorist groups will pay, at least $2,000 a person. It's their way of recruiting soldiers."

Tong, who has been helping lead the Chinese effort to get Uighurs in Southeast Asia back to China, said he did not know how many Uighurs were now fighting for Islamic State. But he said that they have found propaganda videos and messages on the mobile phones and computers of some of those who have been returned, including pictures of dead fighters and promises of the joys to come in the afterlife.

"We are providing education and support, to tell them what real Islam is about. They've been listening to and watching stuff on the Internet, from irregular imams." Hmmmm.....And as usual the Turkish link. Read the full story here.

Related: Report: More than 100,000 fake Turkish passports given to ISIL

8 more #Uighur refugees arrive in #Turkey from Thailand http://t.co/qj9qiRKuuB pic.twitter.com/l94sHQXP51

— Today's Zaman (@todayszamancom) July 11, 2015

Canadian charged in BC Canada for plotting ‘IS-inspired attacks’.

Canadian charged in BC Canada for plotting ‘IS-inspired attacks’. (VB).

A man was arrested and charged in British Columbia Friday after allegedly posting material supporting the Islamic State group and calling for killings in the name of “jihad,” officials said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said 33-year-old Othman Ayed Hamdan of Fort St. John, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) north of Vancouver, was charged on three counts.

He is accused of counseling to commit murder, counseling to assault causing bodily harm and counseling to commit aggravated assault — all “for the benefit of a terrorist group,” according to an RCMP statement.

Court search shows Hamdan has been in court before for explosives in Fort St. John.

 “Hamdan was involved in posting pro-Islamic State (IS) propaganda online which included inducement and instructions to commit murder in the name of jihad,” the statement said.

Hamdan, who has been under investigation since October 2014, is in custody and is expected to appear in court shortly.

The RCMP said “a number of items” were seized from his residence.

“We were able to arrest this individual and disrupt his efforts to harm citizens across the country,” said RCMP Superintendent Dan Bond, an assistant criminal operations officer for national security.

Documents obtained by CBC show that a 33-year-old man with the same name in Fort St. John owns a residential building contracting company called Noex Contracting.

Canadian lawmakers passed new anti-terror measures this year, in response to attacks on Canadian soil last October, when a gunman shot dead a ceremonial guard and then stormed parliament, and a soldier was run over and killed in rural Quebec.

The toughened stance has drawn criticism from those who say it violates civil rights and say the law is too broad and lacks oversight.

Officials defended the measure Friday after Hamdan’s arrest, and said that the government would remain vigilant.

“It is clear that the terrorism threat is real. The international jihadist movement has declared war on Canada,” said Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney.

“That is why our government passed the anti-terrorism act… which enhances the ability of our police officers to detain suspected terrorists before they can harm Canadians.”


“The RCMP encourages citizens to remain vigilant and to report any information on terrorism or related suspicious activities to the National Security Information Network at 1-800-420-5805 or by contacting the police in their community.” Hmmm......Is it me or does the name sound Turkish? Read more here.

'Sometimes NATO Ally' Islamist Turkey borders open for ISIS reinforcements

'Sometimes NATO Ally' Islamist Turkey borders open for ISIS reinforcements. (Firat).

Residents of Elbeyli district of Kilis province stated that the current military deployment does not aim an attack on Rojava but to extend ISIS rule in the region.

Residents of Elbeyli district of Kilis province stated that the current military deployment does not aim an attack on Rojava but to extend ISIS rule in the region. DİHA cameras had filmed ISIS gangs as they were crossing the border and Elbeyli residents said that the borders were open for ISIS.

The deployment of tanks, armored vehicles and special operations forces intimidate Elbeyli residents who stated that the military deployment was aiming to prevent the finalization of the three cantons’ unification after the victory of Girê Spî. Elbeyli residents said that ISIS gangs around the border could cross the border as they pleased and constantly threatened civilians living in the district. Many Elbeyli residents suggested that the deployment of Turkish soldiers was aiming to strengthen ISIS so that the gangs could repel YPG/YPJ operations in the region.

Turkish army controls the Turkish side of the border and ISIS gangs occupy the towns of Bab, Cerablus and Çobanbey that are located on the Rojava side of the border. This region is also the area through which aid and personnel are sent to the gangs in Aleppo.

Located on the eastern bank of Euphrates River, Cerablus lies within the range of YPG/YPJ in Kobanê. YPG/YPJ forces in Efrin are located to the west of Ezaz, which is across from Kilis and under Islamic Front control. Civilians living in the region stated that the liberation of the 110 km route of Cerablus-Ezaz could inflict a serious blow on ISIS presence in Syria and bring the failure of Turkish policies on Syria.

Soldiers and ISIS collaborate in Çobanbey

Elbeyli residents stated that at least 100 ISIS gangs cross over to Rojava from Turkey through Elbeyli every day, and the military deployment on the border aims to strengthen ISIS so that the gangs repel YPG/YPJ operations in the region.

Elbeyli residents said that ISIS gangs often use the 500 m route between Öangallı and Beylerbeyi as well as Selhen village for their border crossings, and collaborate with Turkish soldiers stationed in Çobanbey train station.

Gangs crossing the border on camera

Elbeyli residents stated that the gangs threatened everyone who does not support them, and DİHA cameras have caught ISIS gangs as they were crossing the border near Çangallı village. Elbeyli residents said that civilians initially had a positive view of ISIS but this perception quickly changed when the gangs began to collaborate with Turkish soldiers and took control of the district. Hmmm....When will this Sharade stop ? Obama is protecting his BFF Erdogan. Read the full story here.

Audio - Egypt and Israel may look to Hamas as a Bulwark against ISIS in Gaza

Audio - Egypt and Israel may look to Hamas as a Bulwark against ISIS in Gaza. Read the full story here.

HT and Source.

Audio of my conversation on #ISIS, #Hamas, #Israel & #Egypt on @TheCurrentCBC with @elgindy_ and @AlessandriaMasi http://t.co/VJDGs84XZ8

— Hussein Ibish (@Ibishblog) July 10, 2015

'ISIS BUSTER' - Angelina Jolie: ISIS does not represent Islam

'ISIS BUSTER' - Angelina Jolie: ISIS does not represent Islam. (Rudaw).

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Hollywood actress and director Angelina Jolie used a social media post to denounce the so-called Islamic State organization's radical interpretation of Islam

Jolie posted the following anecdote on her official Twitter account recently :

"Yesterday an ISIS member stopped the car of a Christian couple.

ISIS member: 'Are you Muslim?'

Christian man: 'Yes, I'm Muslim.'

ISIS member: 'If you are a Muslim, then recite a verse of Quran.'

Christian man recited a verse from the Bible.

ISIS member: 'Ok allah go.'

Later his wife tells him: 'I cannot believe the risk you just took.'

'Why did u tell him that we are Muslims?

If he knew you were lying he would have killed both of us.'

'Do not worry! If they knew the Quran, they would not kill people,' answered the Husband."

After the short anecdote, Jolie posted, "ISIS is not Islam, terrorism has no religion."

Hmmm.....Lady you deserve a knighthood for this Joke. I Like the joke, but don't agree with your conclusion.

On whether ISIS is Islamic or not: tell me, do they invite2Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Charity? For the Haj, they'd want2take over Mecca itself.

— Mubin Shaikh (@CaliphateCop) July 8, 2015

Kurdistan seeks 'amicable divorce' from Baghdad.

Kurdistan seeks 'amicable divorce' from Baghdad. (Rudaw).

WASHINGTON— The head of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Foreign Relations, Hemen Hawrani, told a panel in Washington Wednesday that the process of Kurdistan’s independence is ongoing and that Erbil is seeking an “amicable divorce” from Baghdad, which he argued would contribute to the stability in the region.

“This[independence] is a process that is happening and it's going to happen. The referendum will be held very soon, I mean in less than two years. It will be for all Iraqi Kurdistan citizens,” said Hawrami in a panel at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “Frankly speaking, Iraq is broken.”

Hawrami added that Kurds will talk to Baghdad for a peaceful separation, arguing that the current system of governance in the Middle East had failed and a new system based on the socio-ethnic realities should be the premise for a new map of the region.

“The first capital we are going to talk with is Baghdad. Baghdad is important for us. We want to do it in an amicable way. We want to add to the stability of the area and Kurdistan is the anchor of stability,” said Hawrami. “It's time for the world to realize that a failed system needs a review.”

On the participation of Kurds in the current Iraqi government, Hawrami said that there is representation, but no power-sharing in Baghdad, citing as example the exclusive Shiite control over Iraq’s Defense Ministry with marginal Kurdish and Sunni presence.

“Unfortunately, his [PM Abadi] government has not fulfilled the agreement and the promises we have agreed on and he has not fulfilled the agreements that they had with the Sunnis as well,” he explained.

On the budgetary and energy disputes between Erbil and Baghdad, Hawrami said that the Kurds fulfilled their obligation of exporting 550K barrels of oil per day for several months, but that Baghdad didn’t send Kurdistan Region’s 17 percent budget share.

“Baghdad claims they don't have cash, but they have cash for PMU [Shiite militias]. Each member of PMU gets $800. There is money for them, but not for the Peshmerga,” he said.

The KDP official said that Kurdistan Region was on the path to financial independence to help its citizens and more than 1.4 million refugees, and he urged Baghdad not to interfere in these efforts.

Hawrami rejected any notion that Kurds were exploiting the war against ISIS to make territorial expansion, saying,

“We have not carried out territorial expansion. It was Maliki’s army, as a friend of mine described, that peacefully handed over territories to ISIS. Maliki’s army surrendered to ISIS and they withdraw from all those territories, if we were not there, ISIS would have taken Kirkuk and other areas.”

“If we leave those areas, who is going to fill in? ISIS?” he asked.

Hawrami added that the Kurds were not fighting ISIS to promote their independence project. “Fighting ISIS does not mean that Kurdistan is fighting for independence. They are two different issues.”

The KDP diplomat also warned that defeating ISIS would not mean the end of terrorism in the region.

“Even If ISIS could be defeated in the longer term, and it can be defeated, that will not be the end of terrorism in the Middle East,” he maintained. “ISIS is a symptom of a bigger illness in the Middle East. The illness is the failed system that we have-- that the borders of the Middle East don't reflect realities on the ground- do not reflect the wish and will of the people.”

Hawrami argued that Iraq’s Sunni areas suffered major setbacks due to lack of leadership, adding that the Sunni community is now concerned about the post-ISIS era.

“The question and concerns Sunnis have are between [Shiite] militias and ISIS, which one is better?” said Hawrami. “The best thing is to give them assurances that whenever their areas are liberated, you govern and protect your areas.”

Hawrami said that Erbil could help the Sunnis for a better future once Kurdistan breaks away from Iraq. “The most important thing for us is to act for stability in the area.”

The KDP official also encouraged Washington to pursue an independent policy towards the Kurds, and in the meantime recognize the actual redrawing of borders on the ground by Iraq’s different communities.

“The United States is an indispensable ally for us and we are not going to do anything without consultation,” he said. “But for the United States, the fact is Iraq on the ground is now divided. So any policy to deny this reality and this fragmented Iraq is not helping the plans for more stability in the region.”

“In the Shiite areas, Shiites are fighting to draw their own borders, and we are fighting to defend our borders as well,” Hawrami added. “So we have to collectively work with the Sunnis to protect their borders.”   Hmmm....My guess the 'mother in law from Hell' Turkey won't let it pass without Kurdish bloodshed.

Egypt's President Sisi says Kurd secession spells 'catastrophe'

Egypt's President Sisi says Kurd secession spells 'catastrophe'. (Dailystar).

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned the independence of Iraq's Kurdish region would be "catastrophic" and cause the Middle East to splinter along ethnic and religious lines, newspapers reported yesterday.

"The referendum currently demanded by Kurds is nothing... but the catastrophic beginning of the division of Iraq into small rival states, starting with a Kurdish state that will grow to include lands in Syria on which Kurds are living," Sisi told Egyptian newspapers.

The move was part of a "terrible plot" that was aimed at "redrawing the region on religious and ethnic grounds," he said in the remarks published yesterday.

Video - Military construction projects across Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast threaten the peace.

HT and More Voice of America.

Israel tells Obama 'Admin' Kurdish independence is 'foregone conclusion'

Israel tells Obama 'Admin' Kurdish independence is 'foregone conclusion' (HD).

Israel told the United States on June 26 Kurdish independence in northern Iraq was a "foregone conclusion" and Israeli experts predicted the Jewish state would be quick to recognise a Kurdish state, should it emerge.

Israel has maintained discreet military, intelligence and business ties with the Kurds since the 1960s, seeing in the minority ethnic group a buffer against shared Arab adversaries.

The Kurds have seized on recent sectarian chaos in Iraq to expand their autonomous northern territory to include Kirkuk, which sits on vast oil deposits that could make the independent state many dream of economically viable.

Washington wants Iraq's crumbling unity restored. On June 24, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Iraqi Kurdish leaders and urged them to seek political integration with Baghdad.

Kerry discussed the Iraqi crisis with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Paris on June 26. "Iraq is breaking up before our eyes and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish state is a foregone conclusion," Lieberman's spokesman quoted him as telling Kerry.

A day earlier, Israeli President Shimon Peres had a similar message for U.S. President Barack Obama, who hosted the dovish elder statesman at the White House.

Briefing reporters, Peres said he had told Obama he did not see unifying Iraq as possible without "massive" foreign military intervention and that this underscored Kurdish separation from the Shiite Muslim majority and Sunni Arab minority.

"The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state, which is democratic. One of the signs of a democracy is the granting of equality to women," Peres said.

He added that neighbouring Turkey appeared to accept the Kurds' status as it was helping them pump out oil for sale.Read the full story here.

So much for the Kurdish independence dream.

So much for the Kurdish independence dream. HT: UskowiOnIran.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on June 23, part of a diplomatic drive aimed at preventing the country from splitting apart.

Kerry was to meet leaders of the three-province Kurdistan region, after holding talks in Baghdad the day before with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other politicians from across the political and religious spectrum.

"The Secretary's visit will be very important both to confer with the Kurdish leadership and also encourage them to play a very active role in this government formation process, including choosing a very strong president who can represent both Kurdish interests but also Iraqi interests," said a senior U.S. State Department official who briefed reporters.

Related:

Kurdish President Massoud Barzani in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour gave his strongest-ever indication that Iraqi Kurdistan would see formal independence from the rest of Iraq.

“Iraq is obviously falling apart,” Barzani said. “And it’s obvious that the federal or central government has lost control over everything. Everything is collapsing – the army, the troops, the police.”

“We did not cause the collapse of Iraq. It is others who did. And we cannot remain hostages for the unknown.

“The time is here for the Kurdistan people to determine their future and the decision of the people is what we are going to uphold

“Now we are living [in] a new Iraq, which is different completely from the Iraq that we always knew, the Iraq that we lived in ten days or two weeks ago.”

“After the recent events in Iraq, it has been proved that the Kurdish people should seize the opportunity now – the Kurdistan people should now determine their future.

“I will ask him, ‘How long shall the Kurdish people remain like this?’ The Kurdish people is the one who is supposed to determine their destiny and no one else,” Barzani said. Barzani also called on Maliki to step down.

“(The) situation has been very complicated. And the one who’s responsible for what happened must step down.” Amanpour asked if Barzani meant Prime Minister al-Maliki.

“Of course. He is the general commander of the army. He builds the army on the ground of personal loyalty to him, not loyalty to the whole country. And he monopolizes authority and power. He led the military, and this is the result,” Barzani said.

The Peshmerga have recently taken control of Kirkuk, and this is what Barzani said on that issue.

“We never had any doubt at any time that Kirkuk is part of Kurdistan.

“For the last ten years, we have been waiting to have (the constitutional) article applied (to determine Kirkuk’s future), but we haven’t seen any seriousness from the central government. And since we have new developments in Iraq now, this is what brought about the new situation with Kirkuk coming back to Kurdistan.

“We haven’t done this referendum yet, but we will do and we will respect the opinion of the citizens even if they refuse to have Kurdistan as an independent state,” Barzani said.


 Update: Obama and his BFF Erdogan have 'sealed' Kurdish independce plans


 Turkish PM Erdoğan and US Vice President Biden agree on unified government in Iraq

Biden also spoke with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, a Sunni, regarding the developments in Iraq. Bahrain, like Iraq, is a majority-Shiite country. The White House says Biden and the king agreed Iraq’s leaders must set aside sectarianism to confront the ISIL threat.

“I think the only hope to keep the country together is probably through a confederation of three different regions,” Kirkuk provincial Governor Najm al-Din Karim told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “This is actually what Biden suggested in 2004, and everybody thought he was breaking up Iraq, but that’s the only way and he was right.”

In that scenario, he insists, Kirkuk’s residents would choose to be part of the Kurdish region.

“The people of Kirkuk will vote for a place [where] there’s peace, where they can have services,” he says.

“They know the Kurdistan region is where they can get these things.”

Part of Kirkuk’s allure lies in the vast oil reserves in the province.

Karim will not be drawn on the future of the reserves, saying it is an issue to be worked out later, but Kurdish residents of Kirkuk are less equivocal.

“The rights to Kirkuk’s oil are shared between the Kurdish government and the central government, but the government abandoned the situation, abandoned the region and abandoned the people,” says 28-year-old construction worker Ithar Subhan.

“They lost their rights [to the oil] when the Iraqi army left, when they failed to carry out their duties.”