MOSCOW (Sputnik) — "Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed PMF [Popular Mobilization Forces] are shelling Peshmerga positions from Zummar, North West of Mosul. Now advancing," the authority said on Twitter.
Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed PMF are shelling Peshmerga positions from Zummar, North West of Mosul. Now advancing.
— KR Security Council (@KRSCPress) 26 октября 2017 г.
This offensive has started despite the region's repeated calls on Baghdad to conduct unconditional negotiations in exchange for a freeze on its independence drive after a September referendum, in which over 90 percent of Kurds in the region backed splitting from Iraq.
#Iraqi forces and #Iranian-backed #PMF are shelling #Peshmerga positions from #Zummar, North West of #Mosul. Now advancing..#twitterkurds
— Bilesa_Shaways (@Bilesa_Shaways) 26 октября 2017 г.
The offensive, reported by the Kurdish television channel Rudaw, aims to drive the Daesh terror group out of its last bastions along theEuphrates river valley.
#BREAKING: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi gives orders to commence operation against ISIS in Rawa, al-Qaim #EuphatesRiverValley pic.twitter.com/hunvpANgtU
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) 26 октября 2017 г.
The Daesh seized large swathes of land in the northern and western parts of Iraq in 2014 to declare an Islamist state in territories under its control.
This was despite the region's call on Baghdad to conduct unconditional negotiations in exchange to a freeze on its independence drive.
