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Kirkuk
- In the newest Arabization campaign by Baghdad, the Kurdish chief of staff for Kirkuk’s court was replaced by an Arab. The Kirkuk court consists of ten members in addition to the president, two deputies, a chief of staff, and six directors of departments and divisions. Over a hundred Kurdish directors of departments in Kirkuk have been removed and replaced by non-Kurds. The Arabization policy of the Ba’ath party has been resumed in Kirkuk and other Kurdish areas outside of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) administrative boundaries since the events of October 16th, 2017.
- On July 8th, ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists released a kidnapped shepherd after a $100,000 ransom was paid. The terror group abducted the shepherd on June 17th in Tal Hama near the Daquq district. Kidnapping for ransom is a major revenue stream for the terrorist group in the “disputed territories.” Meanwhile, on July 11th, Iraqi Interior Minister Osman Ghanimi arrived in Kirkuk and met with security and military officials. According to a police statement, Ghanimi held a “security meeting” with top officials. The minister also discussed the security of Kirkuk’s airport, which remains unopened despite the completion of its construction due to poor security situation.
- Separate attacks targeted a Kurdish lawyer’s home twice last week with grenades in the Shorja neighborhood. The lawyer, Wafa Aziz, appealed to security forces to protect her family from repeated attacks. “They threatened me over the phone and told me I must give up the case. Otherwise, they will kill my family and me,” she said. She complained that “no police or security agencies came to investigate.” Aziz declined to reveal details of the case. However, reports suggested the lawyer was working on a corruption case of a security agency.
- On July 13th, the Ministry of Water Resources said that since July 10th, an oil pipeline near the main channel of the Kirkuk irrigation project has broken, and oil has mixed with the farming water source. In a statement, the ministry said they are trying to “enclose the area which was contaminated by the oil mixture to prevent it from spreading further.” The leak will affect the drinking water supply to the district of Daquq and the Taza subdistrict.
- On July 13th, Ghazi Obeid, the head of the Zab subdistrict, told reporters that six villages in the district would be flooded due to the construction of a new dam in Tikrit. Ghazi warned that the project would displace 32,000 residents and that “a third of the administrative districts in Kirkuk and Tikrit are likely to be dissolved because of the dam’s proximity.”
Khanaqin
- According to Samir Sardar, the director of the Khanaqin Tourism department, tourism during Eid in the town has decreased by 60%. Sardar said heat waves and differences between the Eid days by the Sunnis and Shias resulted in fewer travels to the town. He also said, “Tourists from central and southern Iraq were more attracted to the Kurdistan Region this year.”
- On July 12th, police in Khanaqin announced the arrest of two women members of a drug gang. The two women were arrested at a checkpoint while going to Baquba district in Diyala province. The two women confessed to working with the gang for five years. Drug smuggling has been on the rise and often generates income for the Iranian-backed militias.
Tuz Khurmatu
- After the removal of the former governor, Salahadin al Jabouri, on corruption charges and the appointment of a new governor Ismael Halaoub, all projects in the Tuz Khurmatu district have been suspended. According to activists, the new governor has halted seven essential service projects for over two months, including bridges, sewage, and school construction. Activists have launched a campaign on Facebook calling for projects to resume. The new governor accuses the companies of having close ties with the sacked governor, al Jabouri.
Makhmour
- On July 13th, Da’esh terrorists the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Infantry Brigade near the village of Lehbat. After clashes for nearly an hour, a Peshmerga scout stationed nearby aided the Iraqi forces. Three soldiers were severely wounded.
- Following the increase in Turkish airstrikes on the Makhmour Refugee Camp, which is holding Kurds from Turkey, the camp administration has taken new security measures, including checking residents’ cellphones and reducing movements in and out of the camp. Since 2017, Turkish airstrikes have killed dozens of people in the camp.
Shingal (Sinjar)
- After a year of research, the UK-based Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC) published a 278-page report on July 8th. In the report, the YJC, which includes British lawmakers, lawyers, and academics, blamed Turkey for its complicity in the genocide of the Yazidis and Iraq and Syria for their negligence in preventing the genocide. The report calls for Turkey to face charges in the International Court of Justice for being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people. Separately, on July 8th, the committee to investigate the case of the Yazidis in the German parliament submitted its latest report to the speaker of the German parliament. The committee calls on the German parliament to recognize the genocide of the Yazidis and officially recognize the crime. The committee held its last meeting on June 20th, when it heard several witnesses.