Iraqi Army, Peshmerga launch joint operation in Sargaran subdistrict: Kurdish commander 

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi Army launched a joint operation in the Sargaran subdistrict of disputed Kirkuk province against ISIS militants on Monday, a Kurdish commander told Kurdistan 24. 

The operation began in early Monday. It covered an area of nearly 300 square kilometers to “inspect and search for ISIS terrorists,” General Sirwan Barzani, the head of Peshmerga forces’ Sector 6 of Mahkmour-Gwer, told Kurdistan 24. 

Previously, a joint brigade of Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga entered Lheban village after the village and surrounding areas endured repeated ISIS attacks. 

Sargaran subdistrict is within the disputed territories claimed by Erbil and Baghdad. ISIS has carried out a campaign of hit-and-run attacks against security forces and civilians alike from these territories for years now. The terror group was announced territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. 

The Iraqi Army and Peshmerga began cooperating against the group in November after it had launched a series of nighttime attacks that killed over 20 of the Kurdish forces and civilians. 

In recent months, Kurdish and Iraqi military authorities have held several meetings in both Erbil and Baghdad to discuss joint operations against the group. 

The US assassinated ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib on Feb. 3.