Kurds allow in refugees fleeing Iraqi assault on ISIS

KIRKUK, Iraq — Thousands of Iraqis have been fleeing Islamic State-controlled territory to the safety of Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, driven by a military offensive to retake the city of Hawija, the extremists’ last major urban stronghold in the country.

The refugees’ reception in Kurdish-held areas was an indication that vital cooperation between Kurdish peshmerga fighters and the Iraqi military was continuing, at least on some level, despite the festering dispute between Iraq and the Kurds over the latter’s recent vote favoring independence.

According to Kemal Kirkuki, commander of the peshmerga in the area west of Kirkuk, an estimated 3,500 Iraqi civilians had been allowed to cross Kurdish front lines from areas held by the Islamic State in Hawija on Friday and Saturday. An additional 1,000 were expected Sunday, peshmerga officials said.

An estimated 78,000 people are in Hawija, although the exact number is not known, and as many as 3,000 Islamic State fighters.

Kurdish officials have provided camps in Kirkuk province to take in the refugees after screening them to ferret out any Islamic State militants who may be among them.

The Iraqi army and police began an offensive on Sept. 21 to retake Hawija, which lies close to the Kurdishheld, oil-rich city of Kirkuk and has a largely Sunni Arab population — and where the Islamic State has found many supporters. While the Kurds did not actively participate in the offensive, they said they would maintain defensive lines and prevent Islamic State forces from escaping.

By facilitating the flight of refugees from the area, the peshmerga has removed a potential humanitarian disaster from the battlefield.

“There has been no change in our support for the Iraqi army; we are supporting them in everything from our side,” said Kirkuki, who said the Kurds had opened roads, shared GPS coordinates of ISIS positions and offered their hospitals for wounded Iraqi fighters. “If they need it,” he added, “they can have any help from our side.”

Iraqi anger over the nonbinding independence vote on Sept. 25, which Kurds supported by 93 percent, led to a declaration in the Iraqi parliament that the military should retake Kirkuk from the Kurds. Such a move would make the Hawija operation impossible.