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On October 4, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) media outlet claimed that Iraqi forces had fully recaptured the town of Hawija; hours after the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said it launched a fresh offensive targeting its centre.

The PMU claimed that the decisive victory came as part of a second stage of operations launched on September 29 to liberate the town and surrounding areas from IS militants, who have been in control of the area since 2014.

The JOC has not officially confirmed the liberation of Hawija town, but if confirmed, it would mean that only western the Anbar’s towns of Rawa and al-Qaim remain under the militant’s control.

The Iraqi army’s War Media Cell did however reported that its forces had regained full control over Makhoul Mountains in Hawija, the area of Al-Harareyat and the western bank of Al-Fatha Bridge. 

PMU media also reported that its forces had liberated three villages west of Riyadh on October 4.  According to a statement, PMU forces liberated the villages of Yassin Taha village west of Hawija district and Aliah and Khalaf Asuad villages, west of Riyadh district.

Separately, Iraqi airstrikes were reported to have targeted an IS headquarters in Rawa in Anbar province, killing a top IS leader Bakr Wagdi al-Rawi, according to unnamed ‘security sources’.

(Source: GardaWorld)

(Picture: US Army near Mosul, March 2017)

Jalal Talabani who served as the president of Iraq between 2005 and 2014 and was the first Kurd to hold the post died at the age of 83 in a hospital in Germany on 3 October 2017.

First appointed as the country's president during the Transitional Period in April 2005, he was re-elected twice, in 2006 and 2010 and had previously served as a member of the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council.

He suffered a stroke in December 2012 and spent a year undergoing treatment in Germany.

Talabani was succeeded as Iraq's president in July 2014. An advocate of Kurdish rights for nearly five decades, he was the founder and secretary-general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main parties controlling the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

The head of the UN mission to Iraq, Jan Kubis, expresses his deepest condolences on the passing of Jalal Talabani, who he described as “a historic symbol of Kurdish struggle for their rights, against dictatorship and for democracy, and a leading voice of moderation, dialogue, mutual understanding and respect in Iraq’s contemporary politics.”

Iraqi state-run TV paid tribute to former Iraqi president; the reports also offered condolences to the Iraqi people and Talabani's family. It also hailed his "patriotic role in uniting the Iraqi people" during his rule.

(Source: GardaWorld)

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has hinted that his government wants to take control of revenue generated from Kurdish oil exports.

The measure is the latest of a set of actions taken by Baghdad against the Kurdistan Region for carrying out last week's referendum that saw a 92-percent vote for independence, the first of which saw a ban in international flights to and from the Kurdish region.

Abadi said in a tweet that his government wanted to pay monthly salaries of KRG employees with money from Kurdish oil sales.  “Federal government control of oil revenues is in order to pay KR (Kurdistan Region) employee salaries in full and so that money will not go to the corrupt,” Abadi tweeted.

The Kurdistan Region has described the Iraqi-imposed flight ban, and other measures as “collective punishment,” that, among others, affect the wounded Kurdish Peshmerga who need medical treatment abroad, and Yezidi survivors of IS atrocities.

Amanj Rahim, the secretary of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told the Kurdish parliament on September 30 that the oil export through Turkey’s Ceyhan pipeline was going ahead as normal.

Separately, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reassured Kurdish citizens they will remain secure even as the government escalates its measure against their region’s government over the recent referendum on independence.

“You are citizens of the first degree, we will not allow any harm to you and we will share our loaf of bread together,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, addressing Kurds via twitter on September 30. “To our people in the Kurdistan region: We defend our Kurdish citizens as we defend all Iraqis and will not allow any attack on them,” Abadi added.

(Source: GardaWorld)

GardaWorld, a global leader in comprehensive security and risk management, has made its weekly security report available to Iraq Business News readers.

Prepared by GardaWorld's Risk Analysis Team in Iraq, this essential report includes short- and medium-term outlooks on the security situation, reports and commentary on recent significant events, and a detailed overview of developments across the country.

Please click here to download the latest report free of charge.

For more information on how GardaWorld's services can support your business in Iraq, please contact Daniel Matthews, Senior Director Iraq, at [email protected]

Initial results for the Kurdish independence referendum show that around 95 percent of people voted in favour of separation from Iraq and the formation of an independent Kurdistan state.

According to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG), the first exit polls show that 95 percent of voters said ‘yes’ while around 5 percent said voted against.

The referendum passed off peacefully across the three provinces that make up the region, and turnout was estimated at about 72 percent according to the electoral commission.

There were scenes of celebration as the polls closed in the regional capital, Erbil, and in the disputed city of Kirkuk, where a curfew was imposed on Monday night amid fears of unrest.

The independent electoral commission overseeing the vote said that preliminary results are expected today (September 26) with the final official results by September 28.

(Source: GardaWorld)

Voters in Iraqi Kurdistan and the disputed areas under Kurdish control have started to cast their ballots on whether to split from the rest of Iraq and become an independent state, according to Kurdish media reports early on September 25.

Reports claimed that voters had been queuing for hours before polling stations opened at 0800 local time, according to Erbil-based Kurdish Rudaw TV.

The KRG’s ruling parties agreed on September 24 to include the disputed province of Kirkuk in the referendum on independence from Iraq.  The announcement came on September 24, following a meeting between the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

In a statement late on September 24, the Iraqi National Security Adviser, head of the popular mobilization, Faleh al-Fayadh confirmed that the federal government will assume all responsibility guaranteed by the Constitution to protect Iraqi territory and not to divide it.

He said, according to a statement to his media office, that "the referendum is a provocative action and break the historic frameworks between the Arabs and Kurds and will charge the sponsors of it a heavy price," stressing the importance of dialogue before the referendum and not after.

Related, the Sadrist protest committee last night postponed its planned demonstration set for September 25, seemingly recognising that the timetable clash with referendum day would not help their cause and would detract from their electoral focus.  A new date is yet to be set.

(Source: GardaWorld)

(Image credit: Jan Kurdistani)

GardaWorld, a global leader in comprehensive security and risk management, has made its weekly security report available to Iraq Business News readers.

Prepared by GardaWorld's Risk Analysis Team in Iraq, this essential report includes short- and medium-term outlooks on the security situation, reports and commentary on recent significant events, and a detailed overview of developments across the country.

Please click here to download the latest report free of charge.

For more information on how GardaWorld's services can support your business in Iraq, please contact Daniel Matthews, Senior Director Iraq, at [email protected]

An official in the Arabian Gulf has stated that construction companies and others in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) look forward to participating in reconstruction projects in Iraq, stressing that it has the potential to qualify for this role.

Abdul Rahim Naqi, secretary-general of the Council of Chambers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stated that the Gulf States have made significant progress in many fields, including communications, construction and tourism.

Naqi said that if the Iraqi government supported the use of the private sector in the reconstruction of Iraq then Gulf companies would be looking for investment opportunities in the field of construction and reconstruction in Iraq

(Source: GardaWorld)

Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister for Electricity and Energy Affairs Houshang Falahatian (pictured) has stated that the power grids of Iran and Iraq will be interconnected in mid-November 2017.

“Iran is ready to take a serious part in reconstruction of the Iraqi electricity grid once terrorists have been eliminated from the area” Falahatian added.

He also emphasized Iran’s readiness to engage “seriously” in three sectors including reconstruction of Iraq's production, distribution and transmission lines, and the participation of the Iranian private sector.

Falahatian also said pointed out the need to synchronize the electricity grids of the two countries, saying that the plan is to connect the two countries’ power grids in mid-November this year, which could play an important role in increasing the amount of electricity exchanges.

In case of any request from the Iraqi government, the possibility exists to reconstruct the Iraqi distribution and transmission networks within two years.

(Source: GardaWorld)

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs announced that the World Bank has allocated $200 million to implement an emergency project to support stability in the liberated areas.

An official spokesman for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs stated:

“The World Bank has allocated $200 million for the implementation of the emergency project to support the stability of the liberated areas, as it will be coordinated with the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers and the ministries of planning, health and work for the purpose of implementing paragraphs of this project.”

(Source: GardaWorld)