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Baghdad-Erbil Crisis Looms after Oil Talks Collapse

Bai Hassan oil field, west of Kirkuk (Getty Images)
Bai Hassan oil field, west of Kirkuk (Getty Images)
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Baghdad-Erbil Crisis Looms after Oil Talks Collapse

Bai Hassan oil field, west of Kirkuk (Getty Images)
Bai Hassan oil field, west of Kirkuk (Getty Images)

Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar has dropped a bombshell by acknowledging that no agreement has been reached with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over oil and energy, warning of a crisis erupting between Baghdad and Erbil.

Last March, the Federal Supreme Court announced a binding and final decision for all authorities in Iraq that the KRG has no jurisdiction to sell oil extracted from the region without Baghdad's consent.

While the KRG considered the top court’s decision politicized, it remains effective nationwide.

Moreover, Iraq said it will start implementing a court ruling that gives the federal authorities oversight of Kurdish production after failed talks with officials from the semi-autonomous region.

The Iraqi Oil Ministry did not reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government over oil output and exports after 75 days of talks, Jabbar said during a roundtable meeting with officials in the Iraqi National Oil Co.

Baghdad’s central government has long asserted its right to manage resources in Kurdistan, which has been pumping and selling oil independently.

The top court ruled in February that the Oil Ministry is the sole body in charge of all oil operations in the country.

“We are moving to implement the provisions of this ruling. It is not easy,” the minister said.

Jabbar on Saturday said that “starting the implementation of the resolution's provisions does not mean interrupting the dialogue,” and welcomed any approach from Erbil to continue discussions.

“We respect the constitutional authorities of the region and we propose to convert these authorities into a transparent standard system that fits the foundations of the oil industry,” he added.

Nevertheless, the Iraqi minister explained that the Iraqi National Oil Company will be responsible for managing the energy file internally, and the Oil Ministry will be responsible for dealing with the Finance Ministry and international and foreign bodies.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has slammed the court’s decision on multiple occasions.

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Arab World

Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents said they feared new air and ground attacks and forced evacuations were aimed at emptying areas in the enclave's north to create buffer zones against Hamas fighters.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said Israel was scaling back the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, compounding shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies.

Israel denied this. But it said separately on Monday it had officially notified the United Nations that it was ending its relations with UNRWA, which has been a vital provider of aid to Palestinian civilians during the 13-month-long war between Israel and Hamas.

In the latest bloodshed, medics said seven people were killed in an attack on two houses in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahia on Monday. Five more were killed in separate strikes in central and southern parts of the enclave, medics told Reuters.

Several people were wounded in the attacks, they said, adding that Israeli forces had sent tanks into the northeast of Nuseirat camp earlier on Monday.

Israel deployed tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia on Oct. 5, saying it intended to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and had injured many staff and patients.

"The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital," it said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on that situation.

Palestinians said the new offensives and orders for people to leave were "ethnic cleansing" aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is combating Hamas fighters who launch attacks from there.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since Oct. 5 at 1,800. It said 4,000 others were wounded.

There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory's health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating the figures of the dead.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war erupted after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

'UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING'

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel has scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time. This represented only 6 percent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.

"This cannot meet the needs of 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said on X.

An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.

Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.

Earlier on Monday, Israel's foreign ministry said it had officially notified the United Nations it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with UNRWA since 1967 - effectively banning it.

"Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering," Lazzarini said.