Will Iraqi-Kurdish Conflict Break Out in Nineveh?

But the Kurds have long considered the areas they seized in the recent offensive as part of their homeland. The areas to the immediate east and north of Mosul are among the few remaining patches of territory that Kurds are keen to include in their autonomous zone and make part of a possible future Kurdistan state.

Minority communities such as the Kakais and Shabak resided in the nine villages before IS swept into the Khazir area, some 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Mosul, in August 2014.

Kakais are ethnic Kurds who follow a syncretistic, mystical religion that is believed to have emerged in the Kurdish areas of western Iran in the 14th century.

The Shabak, an ethnic-religious group, are more divided, with some portions of the community seeing themselves as closer to the Kurds and others more pro-Iraqi.

The territory around Khazir, along with a long stretch of the borderland between Kurdish and Arab Iraq spanning Ninevah, Kirkuk, Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, have long been coveted by Kurds as part of their homeland. Successive Iraqi governments have opposed the idea and made efforts to “Arabize” much of these areas, especially under Saddam Hussein.

Although the post-Saddam constitution approved in 2005 recognized the ethnic-cleansing efforts against Kurds and other minorities and called for a reversal, those measures were mostly not implemented.

The war with IS has now provided an opportunity for the Kurds to establish control over those areas and fortify their presence there. In the absence of a strong rival military force, the Kurds appear to be in control of the areas known as the “disputed territories” in Article 140 of Iraq's constitution.