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Haider al-Abadi halts operation in northern Iraq
 [Al Jazeera] Iraq's prime minister has ordered a temporary halt to a military operation in the country's north aimed at wresting back territory held by Kurdish security forces.In a statement on Friday, Haider al-Abadi ordered government forces to suspend their operations for 24 hours to enable the deployment of other forces in coordination with Kurdish forces in the disputed areas and along the country's borders. The suspension of the movement of troops will allow a technical team from the two sides to jointly work for the deployment, al-Abadi said. "This is aimed at preventing a showdown and bloodshed between people of the same country." Al-Abadi's decision came a day after government forces and Kurdish forces clashed near the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Last week, Iraqi forces retook the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... which had been held by the Kurds since the Iraqi army fled from advancing ISIS fighters in 2014. The show of force came after the secession referendum of September 25, in which 92 percent of Kurds supported independence from Iraq, prompting tension between the two sides. Posted by: Fred 2017-10-28 |
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