Iraq’s Kurds voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Iraq, but faced being left stranded after Baghdad ordered international flights to halt service to Kurdish airports starting Friday. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ruled out the use of force, but vowed to take other measures to keep his country from breaking apart as the standoff looked set to worsen.
American military contractors operating in Iraq are accusing Baghdad of employing strong-arm tactics to make them pay exorbitant income taxes, a practice they’ve warned the Trump administration is hampering the fight against Islamic State extremists.
Iraqi Kurds cast ballots on Monday in their autonomous region and in a wide sweep of captured territories on whether to seek independence from Baghdad, a historic vote that has also raised tensions and fears of instability.
Iraq’s central government in Baghdad ordered the country’s Kurdish region to hand over all border crossings and airports to federal government control late Sunday night, hours before the region is set to carry out a controversial referendum on support for independence.
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard launched a military exercise Sunday in its northwestern Kurdish region just ahead of Iraqi Kurds voting in an independence referendum, in a sign of Tehran's concerns over the vote.
“For the sake of the sacrifices and blood of the martyrs, let’s all say yes for Kurdistan independence,” reads a large billboard in the center of Kalak, a small town in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. “Independence is not given, it’s taken!” reads another banner hanging below a cluster of red, green, yellow and white Kurdish flags.
The Turkish parliament convened Saturday for an extraordinary session to renew a mandate to allow the military to intervene in Iraq and Syria, as officials continued to press Iraqi Kurdish leaders to call off an upcoming independence referendum.
Republican John James, a political newcomer who flew Army helicopters in the Iraq War and now runs an automotive supply chain and logistics business in Detroit, said Thursday he is running for U.S. Senate.
The United States ramped up pressure Wednesday on Iraq’s Kurds to abandon a planned referendum on independence, threatening to withdraw international support for negotiations with Baghdad if the vote isn’t scrapped.
