Battle of Kirkuk (2017)

Belligerents

• Iraq
  • Popular Mobilisation Forces

Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Workers' Party (denied by KRG)
White FlagsCommanders and leadersHaider al-Abadi
(Commander-in-chief)
Lt. Gen. Juma Inad
(Ground Forces commander)
Maj. Gen. Ma’an al-Saedi
(ISOF-2 commander)Masoud Barzani
Assi al-QawaliUnits involved

• Iraqi Army
  • 9th Armoured Division
  • ISOF-2
  • PMF
    • Turkmen Brigades
• Iraqi Turkmen Front

Peshmerga
People's Defence ForcesStrength

Unknown

200–300 armoured vehicles 9,000 Peshmerga forcesCasualties and losses 7 dead (Kirkuk hospital claim) 150 killed or wounded and one tanks destroyed
(KDP claim) 25 killed, 45 wounded (hospital claim)
105 killed
200 wounded
45 captured
(PUK claim)

The Battle of Kirkuk, codenamed Operation Enforcing Security of the 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, was a military deployment by the Iraqi Security Forces to retake Kirkuk Governorate from the Peshmerga after the latter ignored repeated warnings to withdraw, sparking clashes between the two forces. The advance began on 15October 2017, with the city of Kirkuk being retaken upon entry of the Iraqi forces as the Kurds fled immediately. Five days later the entirety of the governorate was under full control of the Iraqi forces; meanwhile, other Iraqi forces continued their advances in subsequent days, defeating the Peshmerga forces across vast swathes of territory in northern Iraq.