Baghdad, Erbil Achieve Security, Military Understandings

Emir of Kuwait when receiving the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region (KUNA)
Emir of Kuwait when receiving the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region (KUNA)
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Baghdad, Erbil Achieve Security, Military Understandings

Emir of Kuwait when receiving the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region (KUNA)
Emir of Kuwait when receiving the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region (KUNA)

Baghdad and Erbil on Tuesday took a step towards resolving their differences about disputed areas and agreed to coordinate anti-ISIS security operations in them.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced establishing centers for coordination between Baghdad and Erbil to facilitate the staging of joint field operations.

In a statement, the Command said that it hosted a meeting of Iraqi and Kurdish military officials in Baghdad to discuss issues of common security concern along the line separating the Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the disputed areas.

Both sides agreed to “start opening two main joint security coordination centers in Baghdad and Erbil, in addition to forming joint field security and military committees to assess security challenges.”

A delegation from the Ministry of Peshmerga visited Baghdad on Tuesday morning to discuss the establishment of coordination centers between Baghdad and Erbil.

“These efforts come to fill the security gaps separating the Iraqi federal forces and the Peshmerga,” the Command’s spokesman Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Khafaji said that terror groups have been exploiting those gaps.

Addressing the coordination plans for Kirkuk and the Nineveh Plains and the deployment of Peshmerga forces there, Khafaji said: “Coordination began in Diyala province and its success will determine extending coordination to other regions.”

“The issue of the return of Peshmerga forces to Kirkuk was not discussed in this meeting,” he added.

The Secretary-General of the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arrangement reached between Baghdad and Erbil stipulates for field committees to meet in Kirkuk, Makhmur, and Nineveh to draft action plans.

Iraqi military expert and retired Brigadier General Hassan Zohair said that coordination between Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga is crucial given that it will deter armed factions and their intentions to exploit security vacuum.



Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Wednesday, he described it as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities.

His comments came as Palestinian officials at hospitals inside Gaza said Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people, nearly a dozen of them children.

The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded since the war against Hamas began in 2023. Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people.