Abadi: Liberation of Hawija Requires Coordination with Peshmerga



Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said that the liberation of Hawija in Kirkuk Province requires coordination with the Peshmerga forces and the Syrian regime.
Abadi said on Wednesday that the restoration of Hawija requires coordination with the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, stressing that the recapturing of the city is the task of the Iraqi forces.


He refused to reach any agreement with Islamic State (IS). “We will not agree to any deals with the criminals, but we will offer two options; surrender or death," Abadi told a news conference.


He said that his forces were coordinating with the Syrian regime to control the border, as they are fighting "one enemy".


According to military sources, around 42 thousand Iraqi soldiers are ready for the operation to liberate Hawija district in southern Kirkuk from IS which has been keeping hold of it since the fall of Mosul in 2014.


The Peshmerga forces are holding three fronts of the battle in north-west of Hawija through which no forces except Peshmerga can move onto the district, according to Peshmerga commanders.

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