[Al Jazeera] The Kurdish collapse in Kirkuk was shockingly sudden.
Iraqi troops, police and Iranian-backed militias known as Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) had massed south of the ethnically mixed city for days, prompting defiant messages from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its Peshmerga fighters. But Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had denied that the movements were preparation for an attack, dismissing such claims as "fake news".
On Monday morning, Baghdad's units finally advanced. After isolated festivities, the Peshmerga swiftly withdrew from their positions, after one Kurdish faction apparently struck a deal with the government. |