Iraqi Kurdish Forces Advance in Kirkuk Province, Approach ISIL Stronghold in Huweija

The Peshmerga forces backed by the Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) headed to retake the ISIL’s headquarters in the Huweija region in Kirkuk province, the Iraqi media quoted Kirkuk Governor Nejah Hossein as saying today.

The Kurdish forces have taken control of the hilltops overlooking the Southwestern parts of Kirkuk and they are only 18 kilometers from Huweija city.

Huweija city is located 45 kilometers to the Southwest of the province of Kirkuk and it has a population of over 400,000. The city has been under the ISIL control for over one year now. Huweija is one of the last areas that are still under ISIL’s control in Kirkuk province.

Iraq’s political figures have warned against Ankara’s plans to annex Iraq’s Nineveh and Anbar provinces to Turkey with the help of the ISIL.

“The presence of Turkish troops in Northern Iraq takes place with the US support and it is a prelude to separate these regions from Iraq and pave the way for the creation of a Sunni emirate stretching from Saudi Arabia to Turkey,” a senior Sunni cleric of Anbar province, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Issawi, told FNA in mid-December.

Meantime, Baghdad University Professor Sadeq al-Moussavi said that Turkey is eyeing the city of Mosul and other cities of the Nineveh province.

“Ankara is seeking to annex Iraqi and Syrian soils to Turkey as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still thinking of reviving the Ottoman Empire,” Al-Moussavi told FNA.