Kurdish Peshmerga Forces Withdraw from Sinjar and Khanqin

One day after Iraqi forces took control of Kirkuk, Kurdish Peshmerga forces left the city of Sinjar early on Tuesday, October 17. Control of the city is now in the hands of the Iraqi army and Iran-backed Shia militias known as Hashd al-Shaabi. At the same time, news agencies reported the evacuation of the city of Khanqin on the Iran-Iraq border by Kurdish forces. On Tuesday, Hashd al-Shaabi announced that in coordination with the Iraqi army, they were able to take control of the city without conflict after the complete withdrawal of Peshmerga forces. Muslim Shingali, the commander of local militia forces in Sinjar, told the Associated Press that the Kurdish forces left the city before sunrise on Tuesday. According to this report, Hashd al-Shaabi forces are entering Sinjar. Mr. Shingali stated that there was no confrontation in Sinjar and that "the Kurdish forces left the city without conflict and immediately." Mahma Khalil, the mayor of Sinjar, also stated that a coalition of Shia militias is providing security in Sinjar. The city of Sinjar in Nineveh province in northern Iraq fell to the Islamic State group in 2014, which perpetrated massacres against its predominantly Kurdish Yazidi inhabitants. A year later, Kurdish Peshmerga forces were able to liberate the city from the control of the Islamic State group. After that, Masoud Barzani called for the annexation of Sinjar to the Kurdistan Region. Sinjar was one of the cities where the Kurdish independence referendum was held, which heightened tensions between Baghdad and Erbil. The holding of this referendum angered Iraq, Turkey, and Iran, and Haider al-Abadi, the Prime Minister of Iraq, stated that he does not recognize it and called for its annulment. In this context, an advisor to Khamenei denied the role and presence of the IRGC in the Kirkuk operations. Trump stated that in the dispute between Iraq and the Kurds, the U.S. does not favor either side. Government offices in Kirkuk were seized by Iraqi forces. Iran closed the "Parviz Khan" border crossing with the Kurdistan Region at the request of the Iraqi government. The U.S. urged "all parties" in Iraq to avoid escalating tensions.