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Kirkuk
- In a press conference on August 20, the Arab Political Council bashed Kirkuk’s Mayor Falah Yaychi for demolishing illegally constructed homes belonging to Arab families in the city. The Arab Political Council called for the mayor’s removal. Yaychi is a Turkmen Shia mayor who received support from Turkish and Iranian-backed Turkmen lawmakers in Kirkuk. Yaychi also demolished 40 Kurdish-owned homes last week in Shoraw, Kurdistan, Panja Ali, and Barood Khana. Millions of homes have been built in Iraq on government properties since 2003.
- On August 19, the head of employment contracts at the governorate Emad Daham, resigned from his post, accusing the political parties of interference in his work. Daham said he is faced with “pressure” from political parties about the hiring process for one thousand job openings in the province.
- Dilan Ghafour, a Kurdish lawmaker, accused the Iraqi inter-provincial coordination committee of not implementing the Council of Ministers’ decision to grant lands to those who built homes on them illegally. The decision in 2019 grants “ownership” of lands if it’s “located outside the urban designs of cities.”
- On August 20, the National Security Agency announced the arrest of six of the “dangerous” ISIS (Da’esh) terrorists in Kirkuk. A statement by the agency said the terrorists had “committed the most heinous crimes against citizens and security personnel in the past.” That said, Da’esh terrorists continued attacks in Kirkuk, including assassinating the director (Mokhtar) of Hajil village in Riyad subdistrict. Further, on August 25, a Da’esh IED killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded two others in the Anana village of Daquq district.
- After pressure from Arab and Turkmen parties to open Kirkuk’s airport, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al Kadhimi, sent a special committee consisting of officials from the National Security Agency to evaluate the conditions of the airport. The airport’s construction ended last year, but it remained unopened due to security concerns. The committee reported that the airport is “not ready” for operations in terms of security, recommending the demolition of five villages behind the airport.
Khanaqin
- On August 23, Peshmerga forces conducted two joint military operations with the Iraqi army in the eastern Khanaqin district, cleaning Da’esh hideouts. The region remains in a security vacuum as Baghdad is yet to allow joint Kurdish-Iraqi forces to deploy in the area, per a previous agreement with Erbil.
- At least six Kurds were killed in separate crimes in two weeks in Khanaqin, including two sisters on August 14, a father and son on August 19, and a mother and son on August 25. The security forces have yet to find preparators, but the series of murders has spread fear among the Kurdish community.
Shingal (Sinjar)
- On August 24, several activists held a rally in the Sinjar district, demanding improvements in the situation in the city. The demonstrators said the security instability and lack of services had caused displacement for the second time after some families had returned to their areas. At least 400 families have left Sinjar in the last two months. Sinjar has also been facing a severe fuel shortage since August 12, causing long lines at gas stations. Locals blamed the Nineveh governorate’s decision to shut down private gas stations, while there are only three gas stations in the district, unable to fulfill the demands.