2017 Iraqi–Kurdish Conflict
The 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, also known as the Kirkuk crisis, was a conflict in which the Iraqi government retook disputed territories in Iraq which had been held by the Peshmerga since ISIL's Northern Iraq offensive in 2014. The conflict began on 15 October 2017 after tensions arising from the Kurdistan Region independence referendum of 25 September. The tension between the federal Iraqi government and Kurdistan Region escalated into conflict when the Peshmerga ignored repeated warnings to return Kirkuk to Iraqi government forces. Part of the conflict was the Battle of Kirkuk, when Iraqi forces regained control of the city. As a result of the conflict, Kurdistan Region withdrew from 20% of the territory they held. Background The President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, facilitated the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum in September 2017. This provoked the Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi to demand that the referendum result be cancelled ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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War In Iraq (2013–2017)
The War in Iraq was an armed conflict between Iraq and its allies and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) which began in 2013 and ended in December 2017. Following December 2013, the insurgency escalated into full-scale guerrilla warfare following clashes in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in parts of western Iraq, and culminated in the Islamic State offensive into Iraq in June 2014, which lead to the capture of the cities of Mosul, Tikrit and other cities in western and northern Iraq by the Islamic State. Between 4–9 June 2014, the city of Mosul was attacked and later fell; following this, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for a national state of emergency on 10 June. However, despite the security crisis, Iraq's parliament did not allow Maliki to declare a state of emergency; many legislators boycotted the session because they opposed expanding the prime minister's powers. Ali Ghaidan, a former military commander in Mosul, accused al-Maliki of being the one ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis
Jamal Ja'far Muhammad Ali Al Ibrahim ( ar, جمال جعفر محمد علي آل إبراهيم ', 16 Nov 1954 – 2 January 2020), known by the kunya Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis ( ar, أبو مهدي المهندس, lit=Father of Mahdi, the Engineer), also spelled Mohandes, was an Iraqi-Iranian commander of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). At the time of his death, he was deputy chief of the PMF (''Al-Hashd Al-Sha'abi''). From 1977, he was an opponent of Saddam Hussein. He became the commander of volunteer militias that grew from the need to combat ISIS, including the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia group, which is designated a terror organisation by the governments of Japan, the US and the UAE; and prior to that worked with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against Saddam's regime. Allegations of terrorism have been levelled against him over his activities in Kuwait in the 1980s. He was sentenced to death in absentia in 2007 by a court in Kuwait for his involvement i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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9th Division (Iraq)
The 9th Armoured Division is a formation of the Iraqi Army, originally formed probably around 1975, but disbanded in 1982. It was reformed after 2004. History The division was formed as part of the buildup of the Iraqi Army after the Yom Kippur War. Pesach Malovany says it was 'newly established' in the leadup to the Iran–Iraq War. Before the war it was garrisoned in the An Nasiriyah area as part of the 3rd Corps. In British military attache reporting of 1977-78 it was listed with the 3rd Corps, with its headquarters at Samawa, with the 14th Mechanised and 43rd and 45th Armoured Brigades. It saw its first action in the initial Iraqi invasion of Khuzestan. It fought in several battles in 1980–81, but then was so badly beaten in the First Battle of al-Basrah (Operation Ramadan), in July 1982, that it was disbanded. The 9th Division was the only Iraqi division to be disbanded without being reformed during the war. Because the number nine had become unlucky in the Iraqi Army due ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iraqi Special Operations Forces
The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) ( ar, قوات العمليات الخاصة العراقية) are a special operations force of Iraq. The unit was created in 1950, but was disbanded and recruited from scratch by coalition forces after the 2003 invasion. The forces, directed by the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service, consist of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Command, which has three brigades subordinate to it. The Counter Terrorism Service (''Jihaz Mukafahat al-Irhab'', originally translated as Counter Terrorism Bureau) is funded by the Iraq Ministry of Defence. History Special operations troops of the Iraqi Army were first established when Colonel Khalil Dabbagh built the first royal special units in the name of "Queen Alia Forces" in the mid-1950s. It consisted of Sunni and Shia Arabs, as well as other components of the Iraqi population. They were mainly used on an emergency basis to carry out special missions inside of Iraq and outside when the country was at war. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iraqi Army
The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), or the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was known as the Royal Iraqi Army up until the coup of July 1958. The Iraqi Army in its modern form was first created by the United Kingdom during the inter-war period of ''de facto'' British control of Mandatory Iraq. Following the invasion of Iraq by U.S. forces in 2003, the Iraqi Army was rebuilt along U.S. lines with enormous amounts of U.S. military assistance at every level. Because of the Iraqi insurgency that began shortly after the invasion, the Iraqi Army was later designed to initially be a counter-insurgency force. With the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2010, Iraqi forces have assumed full responsibility for their own security. A ''New York Times'' article suggested that, between 2004 and 2014, the U.S. had provided the Iraqi Army with $25 billion in training and equipment in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Najmiddin Karim
Najmiddin Karim ( ku, نەجمەدین کەریم; 1949 – 31 October 2020), also known as Najmaldin Karim, was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who was governor of Kirkuk Governorate from 2011 to 2017. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, Karim had served in numerous Kurdish and Iraqi opposition groups. Early years Karim was born in Kirkuk in 1949, and lived there until he completed secondary school, when he moved to Mosul, where he studied medicine at the Mosul Medical College. Karim became involved in politics at university, being elected to the leadership of the Kurdish Student Union in 1971, and then later joining the Peshmerga in 1972. Karim left Iraq in 1975. He later completed neurosurgery training at George Washington University, and started his own medical practice in the Washington, D.C. area. Karim became an American citizen and lived in the United States until 2009, when he returned to Kirkuk. In addition to Kurdish activism in the U.S., Karim was active in the Iraqi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Masrour Barzani
Masrour Barzani () (born 2 March 1969) is a Kurdish politician and serving as prime minister of the Kurdistan Region, an autonomous region of Iraq, since June 2019. He is also the chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council and a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. He was sworn in as prime minister of the KRG’s ninth cabinet on 10 June 2019, after receiving 87 votes out of 97 legislators in the Kurdistan parliament. Early life and education He joined the Kurdish resistance fighters, known as Peshmerga or “those who face death", in 1985 at the age of 16. He was an active participant in the Battle of Khwakurk against Saddam Hussein’s army in 1988. He also participated in the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War and filmed both events. Despite this irregular childhood given the tumultuous nature of the Kurdish resistance, Barzani was able to complete his high school education in Iran. After seeing peace restored to the region in 1992, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nechirvan Barzani
Nechirvan Idris Barzani ( ku, نێچیرڤان بارزانی, translit=Nêçîrvan Barzanî; born 21 September 1966) is a Kurdish politician serving as the second President of Kurdistan Region, Iraq. He was elected into office by the Kurdistan Region Parliament in June 2019. Nechirvan Barzani was appointed as Vice President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 2010. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government from March 2007 to August 2009 and March 2012 to May 2019. Nechirvan Barzani is also the founder of the University Of Kurdistan - Hewler, the region's top ranking university located in Erbil. His rule combines aspects of Kurdish nationalism, secularism, modernism and reforms, reforms in agriculture and women's rights. Early years Nechirvan Barzani was born in 1966 in the village of Barzan, Kurdistan Region. The name Nêçîrvan means ''hunter''. Barzani's surname originates from his birthplace of Barzan. He is the grandson of Mustafa Barz ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kosrat Rasul Ali
Kosrat Rasul Ali () is a Kurdish politician and the leader of the Supreme Political Council of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), veteran Peshmerga military leader, former Prime Minister, and former Vice President of the Kurdistan Region. Early life He was born in 1952 as Abdulla Rasul in the oil-rich village of Shiwashok near the city of Koya, which is located in the province of Erbil. His father was Rasul Ali, who worked for the oil company near the village. The family was well-known in the area. Peshmerga In 1975, Kosrat joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party and participated in the September Revolution led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani. At the end of 1975, he joined Komala and took over supervision of student activities. He founded the Kurdistan Students Group in Kirkuk with a number of his colleagues in 1976. Kosrat was arrested in 1977 by Baath Party security services in Kirkuk for organizing political activities, and was released the same year. After his release from ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Masoud Barzani
Masoud Barzani ( ku, ,مهسعوود بارزانی, translit=Mesûd Barzanî}; born 16 August 1946) is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017. Early life and career Barzani was born in the territory controlled by the self-declared Republic of Mahabad, and succeeded his father Mustafa Barzani as leader of the KDP in 1979. Working closely with his brother Idris Barzani until Idris's death, Barzani and various other Kurdish groups fought with the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Iraqi military during the Iran–Iraq War. Barzani has played a key role in the development of the Kurdistan Region polity since the Gulf War. President of Kurdistan Region A major result of Saddam Hussein's defeat in the Gulf War (1991) and Operation Provide Comfort was the ultimate establishment of Kurdish control over their traditional homeland in northern Iraq, known ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Intelligence Organization (Turkey)
The National Intelligence Organization ( tr, Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) is the state intelligence agency of Turkey. Established in 1965 to replace National Security Service, its aim is to gather information about the current and potential threats from inside and outside against all the elements that make up Turkey's indivisible integrity, constitutional order, existence, independence, security and national power and take precautions when necessary. The current headquarters of MIT is located in Etimesgut district of Ankara. The MIT co-operates with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the intelligence agencies of Russia. Its operations and missions are classified. Organization Organizational structure The Organisation's legal basis and structure can be found in Law No. 2937, the Law on the State Intelligence Services and the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation, as well as several other laws. Before November 2016, there were four main departments. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hakan Fidan
Hakan Fidan (born 1968) is a retired Turkish army sergeant major, educator, diplomat and the Head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization. Career After a first degree in management and political sciences at University of Maryland University College he got master's thesis and PhD thesis, both from Bilkent University. He was a non-commissioned officer in the Turkish Army from 1986 to 2001. He was the head of the Turkish Development and Cooperation Agency'' Today's Zaman'', 19 April 2010Hakan Fidan becomes next head of Turkish intelligence from 2003 to 2007. In November 2007 he was appointed as a deputy-undersecretary in the Prime Ministry and became the security advisor for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. National Intelligence Organization From May 2010 to February 2015, he was the undersecretary (i.e. chief) of the National Intelligence Organization ( tr, Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT). On 7 February 2015, he resigned from his position to run for the Turkish Grand Nationa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |