Peshmerga forces don’t get orders from Iraq army: KRG

By Idris Okuducu

ERBIL, Iraq (AA)- The Kurdish peshmerga forces don’t receive orders from the Iraqi army, the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) has said.

In a statement released late Friday, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said the Kurdish forces only receive orders from the General Command in Erbil in northern Iraq.

“The central government has neither born the responsibility of training the peshmerga forces nor provided them with weapons,” the statement said.

The statement, however, said that the peshmerga forces “have been part of Iraq’s defense system”.

The statement was released in response to statements by spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Mark Toner, in which he called for putting the peshmerga forces under the command of the Iraqi army.

The Kurdish ministry said the peshmerga forces don’t have ambitions to capture any new areas in Iraq, reiterating that the Kurdish forces were ready to cooperate with the Iraqi army to fight Daesh group.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said there was a great cooperation between the peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops with a view to recapturing the northern city of Mosul from the Daesh group.

Iraqi forces are currently preparing to launch a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country’s second largest city, which was overran by the militant group in 2014.

Backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, Iraqi forces have managed to retake most of the territory seized by Daesh since 2014. The terrorist group, however, still controls several parts in the country.