In the buildup to a long-awaited offensive on the city of Mosul, Kurdish forces are seizing new territory in northern Iraq that they say will become part of their autonomous region. “All the areas that have been liberated by the peshmerga forces, our (Kurdish) forces will stay there,” said Falah Mustafa, the head of the Iraqi Kurdish region’s foreign relations department, echoing statements by numerous officials. Largely with the help of US-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish forces have taken territory equivalent to around 50% of the size of their recognised autonomous zone. Their first gain came just days after IS militants took Mosul in the summer of 2014 and stormed down into central Iraq as the military collapsed. Kurdish forces seized the city of Kirkuk, which they have long claimed as their own.

Source: Dhaka Tribune August 27, 2016 18:00 UTC