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Kurds Vote despite their Neighbors’ Threats

An Iraqi Kurdish man poses with his inked fingers after casting a vote during the referendum on independence from Iraq in Irbil on September 25, 2017. Khalid Mohammed / AP
An Iraqi Kurdish man poses with his inked fingers after casting a vote during the referendum on independence from Iraq in Irbil on September 25, 2017. Khalid Mohammed / AP
    Ankara, Erbil, Baghdad - Said Abdul Razak & Asharq Al-Awsat
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Kurds Vote despite their Neighbors’ Threats

An Iraqi Kurdish man poses with his inked fingers after casting a vote during the referendum on independence from Iraq in Irbil on September 25, 2017. Khalid Mohammed / AP
An Iraqi Kurdish man poses with his inked fingers after casting a vote during the referendum on independence from Iraq in Irbil on September 25, 2017. Khalid Mohammed / AP

Iraq and the region entered on Monday the post-Kurdistan referendum phase as the popular vote held in the three Iraqi Kurdistan provinces tuned into a fait accompli.

“The Kurdish political forces that were against the referendum or had some reservations on it finally changed their positions and have strongly participated in the vote,” independent regional sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday.

They added that the high turnout might push worldwide powers, such as the US, to interfere in the next phase and work on holding talks between Erbil and Baghdad.

After the polling stations were close at 6 pm, the electoral commission announced that voters’ turnout has reached 78 percent out of 5.2 million eligible voters.

The referendum was held in the Kurdistan Region’s three provinces: Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok, and in the disputed territories, such as Kirkuk, Khanaqeen and the province of Diyala.

In Kirkuk, the voting day ended by the announcement of a curfew to prevent any disputes between supporters of the referendum and those against it.

Meanwhile, the referendum was held despite neighboring countries threatening to take escalatory measures against the move.

The Iraqi government on Monday voted on a resolution demanding that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to send troops to all territories that the Kurdistan Region has taken control of since 2003.

Soon after the parliament’s decision, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said it started a joint drill with the Turkish Army at the border.

Ankara also uncovered on Monday a list of expected sanctions against the Kurdistan Region for ignoring its previous warnings against holding the referendum.

The sanctions include closing the Habur border crossing and freezing exports and oil and gas purchases from the Kurdistan Region.

Also on Monday, Iran closed its borders with Iraqi Kurdistan before reopening it again later, asserting that it only closed its airspace on flights to and from the Kurdistan Region.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the potentially destabilizing effects of the referendum while the White House said it hopes a unified Iraq will “annihilate” ISIS and push back on Iran.

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Arab World

Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.
Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circled overhead while the sound of sporadic firing could be heard in the city, said Reuters.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
The operation, which Israel says was mounted to block Iranian-backed militant groups from attacking its citizens, has drawn international calls for a halt.
At least 19 Palestinians, including armed fighters and civilians, have now been killed since it began. The Israeli military said on Saturday a soldier had been killed during the fighting in the West Bank.
The Israeli forces were battling Palestinian fighters from armed factions that have long had a strong presence in Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp, a densely populated township housing families driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war around the creation of Israel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday a child had been taken to hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.
The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank takes place as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas group still rages in the coastal Gaza Strip nearly 11 months since it began, and hostilities with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in the Israel-Lebanon border area have intensified.
Late on Friday, Israeli forces said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank settlement cluster located south of Jerusalem, that the military assessed were both attempted attacks on Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded at a petrol station in what the army said was an attempted car bombing attack. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers.
In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car attempted to ram a security guard and infiltrate the Karmei Tzur settlement. The car was chased by security forces and crashed and an explosive device in it was detonated, the military said in a statement.
The two deaths were confirmed by Palestinian health authorities but they gave no details on how they died.
Troops combed the area following the two incidents. Security forces also carried out raids in the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.
Hamas praised what it called a "double heroic operation" in the West Bank. It said in a statement it was "a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation's aggression and targeting of our people and land continue".
The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.
Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday Israel would step up defensive measures as well as offensive actions like the Jenin operation.
Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs have ploughed up large stretches of paved roads and water pipes have been damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel last October that triggered the Gaza war, at least 660 Palestinian combatants and civilians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian tallies, some by Israeli troops and some by Jewish settlers who have carried out frequent attacks on Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran provides weapons and support to militant factions in the West Bank - under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war - and the military has as a result cranked up its operations there.