Kirkuk V.

This is coolbert:

 Herewith from the latest edition of the DEBKAfile news letter the topic Kirkuk and an Israeli appreciation/perspective:

1. "Iran-backed Iraqi ultimatum to Kurds to leave Kirkuk. First test for Trump's threat to Rev Guards"

14 October.

"Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar Al-Abadi Saturday night, Oct. 14, gave the Kurdish Peshmerga an ultimatum to surrender the positions in the Kirkuk oil region they have held since pushing ISIS out three years ago, and also cancel the Kurdish Republic's Sept. 25 independence vote."

2. "Iranian Guards Soleimani holds talks with Kurds"

15 October.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards Al Qods chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani arrived in Irbil Sunday, stepping into the Kurdish disputes with Baghdad over Kirkuk and their Sept.25 independence referendum."

3. "Kurds say Iranian Guards in Iraqi military buildup against them"

15 October.

"We [Kurdish forces] have intelligence that the Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards are among the Iraqi army and Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Military Units) militia attacking us," said Shwan Shamerani, commander of the Peshmerga second brigade in Kirkuk Saturday. Kurdish commanders accused the Iraqi army of cooperating with 'foreign forces.'"

4. "Iran and Iraq go to war with the Kurds over Kirkuk. Rev Guards take part in defiance of US"

16 October.

"An Iranian-Iraqi war on the semi-autonomous . . . DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report that pro-Iranian Shiite militias were the spearhead of the operation, fighting under the direct command of Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Gen. Qassem Soleimani."

5. "Iraqi-Iranian forces take Kirkuk's oil field against zero Kurdish resistance"

16 October.

"Tehran chalked up a major victory Monday when Iraqi Shiite militias under the orders of the Revolutionary Guards' Qassem Soleimini, alongside the Iraqi army, delivered the Kirkuk oil center to Baghdad after a short operation. The Kurdish Peshmerga surprised by showing hardly any resistance after a group of their units deserted . . . In less than a day therefore, the Iraqi-Iranian force recaptured most of the oil fields around Kirkuk, which the Kurds had held for three years since the Iraqi army fled the advancing Islamic State and they stepped in to drive them out."

6. "US threatens to shoot down any Iraqi warplane targeting Kurds"

16 October.

"Iraqi and Kurdish sources reported Monday that the US had warned the Al-Abadi government against deploying the Iraqi air force against Kurdish targets in the fighting which erupted around the oil town of Kirkuk Monday. The US Air Force would shoot the Iraqi planes down, Baghdad was warned."

7. "Iran's Rev Guards set up command post and 5 bases in Kirkuk"

18 October.

"Military sources in Iraqi reported Wednesday that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) operational Al Qods arm had planted a command center and five bases in the Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk two days after driving the Kurds out"

8. "Russia's Rosneft takes control of main Kurdistan oil pipeline"

20 October.

"Rosneft's investment in the Kurdish oil pipeline is estimated as totaling about $1.8 billion. It was announced Thursday, four days after the Iraqi army and pro-Iranian militias captured the oil city of Kirkuk from Iraqi Kurdistan."

THAT 25 SEPTEMBER "INDEPENDENCE VOTE" IN ACTUALITY A NON-BINDING REFERENDUM.

ALSO TREACHERY AT WORK HERE? THE KURDISH PESHMERGA FIGHTERS HAVING OCCUPIED KIRKUK SINCE 2014 HAVE BEEN BETRAYED OTHER KURDISH ELEMENTS?

This whole story needs to play itself out and big time.

coolbert.