Judy Woodruff: Old rivalries are being reshaped in Iraq today between vital American allies.
Iraqi military forces and militia moved to push Kurdish forces from the disputed city of Kirkuk in the north of the country.
Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage.
man (Through translator): The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Dr. Haider al-Abadi, gave orders to protect the people of Kirkuk and impose security in the city.
Lisa Desjardins: After months of bizarre tensions, Iraqi federal forces moved to retake the disputed city of Kirkuk from Kurdish forces.
The effort was launched before dawn. By midday, Iraqi soldiers, along with state-backed militias, quickly took control of several massive oil fields north of the city. The Iraqis also captured Kirkuk Military Airport and various government buildings. They lowered what was a symbolic Kurdish flag at the governor’s compound.
Journalist Rebecca Collard was in Erbil in Kirkuk this morning.
Rebecca Collard, Journalist: You could hear some clashes, some gunfire in the distance, but for the most part, the city seemed fairly deserted. Now, the Iraqi Army was, by the end of the day, essentially in control of the entire city and many of Kirkuk’s suburbs.
Lisa Desjardins: The Iraqi Shiite militia spokesman said they achieved all their goals with little resistance.
Ahmed Al-Asadi, Al-Shaabi spokesman (through the translator): As the forces approached the area, they were confronted by some rebels, who tried to impede the advance of the advanced units. Our forces returned fire and confirmed its source.
Lisa Desjardins: This comes three weeks after the Kurds held a non-binding independence referendum that included the disputed Kirkuk province.
More than 90 percent of the population of the Kurdish region voted to secede from Iraq. The Iraqi federal government, Turkey, Iran, and the United States all rejected the independence drive.
The multi-ethnic region of Kirkuk lies outside the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Called the country’s oil capital, Kirkuk produces about 500,000 barrels per day.
In 2014, amid an ISIS offensive across northern Iraq, the Kurds took control of Kirkuk, as the Iraqi army fled into the city. In the three years that followed, the Kurds, led by their president, Masoud Barzani, sought to consolidate their hold, despite tensions with the central government.
Today, Kurdish officials accused Iraq of carrying out a major, multi-pronged attack.
Major. Gen. Ayoub Yusuf said, Peshmerga Commander (through translator): I don’t know what exactly is happening, because we have been in this battle since 4:00 in the morning. We have suffered losses, including martyrs, and now we have retreated to this situation. Some of the other Kurdish forces have withdrawn. They didn’t fire a single shot.
Lisa Desjardins: As Kurdish forces withdrew from positions south of the city, some residents vowed to die. Thousands of others fled north.
Rebecca Collard: Over the past few years, Iraqi forces, these primarily Shiite militias, the Popular Front, and Kurdish forces have focused on fighting ISIS. Now that the battle is over, what is feared is that this internal division in Iraq will now become more apparent and perhaps more violent.
Lisa Desjardins: These clashes largely pit one American armed military force against another. Both Kurdish forces and Iraqi government forces are part of the coalition fighting ISIS. The United States sought to downplay the fighting, calling the shootout a misunderstanding.
And in the Rose Garden, President Trump tried to remain neutral.
President Donald Trump: We don’t like the fact that they collide. We don’t take sides. But we don’t like the fact that they collide.
Lisa Desjardins: For PBS Newshour, I’m Lisa Desjardins.
Judy Woodruff: For more information, I’m now joined by Emma Skye. She served as an advisor to General David Petraeus while he was the commander of US forces in Iraq from 2007 to 2010, and Feisal Istrabadi. He is a former Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations and helped write Iraq’s interim constitution.
Welcome to both of you.
Let me start with you, Emma Skye.
This happened quickly. What exactly did the Iraqi government do?
Emma Skye, Yale University: The Iraqi government deployed reserve forces north to Kirkuk.
Since 2003, the Kurds have made it clear that they wish to include Kirkuk within their territory in order to move forward with gaining independence, which has always been their goal. But Kirkuk is important to Iraq itself, and the Iraqi prime minister cannot afford to lose Kirkuk.
So you can see this reaction that happened after the independence referendum, which happened on September 25, and also included the disputed areas and the city of Kirkuk.
Judy Woodruff: Feisal ittrabadi, what can you add to why the Iraqi government appointed the city?
Feisal ittrabadi, FORMER DEPUTY AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, IRAQ: Well, a couple of reasons.
First, as Emma just said, it is part of the disputed territory, which is legally and constitutionally under the jurisdiction of the federal government in Baghdad. KRG expanded into these disputed territories at a time when ISIS was expanding its territory, and then began taking steps to unilaterally declare that these areas had now been incorporated into the Kurdistan region, including when it held the referendum that Emma spoke about.
It included holding a referendum in these disputed areas. Now, as long as Iraq – as long as we’re talking about one country, it matters a little less who controls Kirkuk, but once the referendum was held, that led to the second reason for choosing Baghdad to act now.
As Emma said, Kirkuk is an important oil producing area in Iraq. It is crucial to the economic survival of an independent Kurdish state and an important part of the economic viability of the Iraqi state. So there was no scenario, I think, where Baghdad would allow a unilateral exercise of control by the Kurds over Kirkuk, as long as independence was on the table.
Judy Woodruff: Emma Skye, we heard President Trump say today that the United States is not taking sides on this.
Is this accurate, that the United States does not take sides? What is the role of the United States here?
Emma Skye: Well, the United States has repeatedly stated that its policy is to support a united Iraq.
So you can see the United States provided support to the Iraqi security forces, but also to the Kurdish Peshisma, to fight ISIS. US policy over the past few years has focused on ISIS rather than the day after ISIS.
But what we are seeing at the moment is that the different groups are already moving on to the next, which is a power struggle for control of different territories in Iraq.
Barzani believed that during the battle against ISIS, he became stronger because he obtained weapons directly from the international community. As Wiesel said, he was able to expand his control over the disputed territories.
He is also facing domestic problems within Kurdistan. There are tensions between different Kurdish groups, and some believe Barzani has overstayed his term as president.
Judy Woodruff: Which reminds us how complicated this is, Vaisal Al-Itrabadi.
What does the Iraqi central government want here? They will not get rid of the Kurds. What do they want?
Feisal ittrabadi: Oh, well, I mean, the Kurds are of course a vital part of Iraq. It is a vital part of the political process, and it was represented in Baghdad. The president of Iraq is Kurdish and has been since 2005.
I think what needs to happen and I hope what the Government of Iraq wants is a negotiated settlement, in which neither party sets terms for the other, but a negotiated settlement.
See, Irbil has some legitimate agreements regarding Baghdad. Baghdad has some legitimate agreements regarding Irbil. I think we need a mediator perhaps or someone to put together a roundtable — the United States is the one I’m thinking of, of course — to address some of these issues.
Most of the issues, from Irbil’s side, are the economic issues of payments, and from Baghdad’s side, the transparency of how much oil Irbil produces and exports, which Irbil has never represented to Baghdad.
I think if these issues are resolved, then maybe hopefully some of these other issues will be delayed for another day. But at the end of the day, neither the regional government nor the federal government in Baghdad can tolerate terms being dictated to them by the other side. I hope you get settlement negotiations.
Judy Woodruff: Emma Skye, where do you see this going from here? Do you see the peace that the various parties worked to create in Iraq resulting from this?
Emma Skye: I think there is an opportunity for a deal, and I think the type of deal that can be negotiated is one that looks at a special status for Kirkuk and terms of negotiation with a separate Kurdistan, whether that is toward confederation or toward independence.
But there must be negotiation. There needs to be a look at where the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq should actually be, which requires a mediation zone through these areas.
Judy Woodruff: Well, we know that there are other players that play an important role here in Iran and Turkey, and that’s all very much playing out and we’re watching, they’re watching that in Iraq.
Emma Skye, File Itrapadi, Thank you very much.
Feisal ittrabadi: Thank you.
Emma Skye: Thank you.
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