Intel: Iraq’s Peshmerga Ministry pushes for joint security talks with Baghdad

The resulting shift in forces left significant gaps between the two sides’ outposts and patrol areas spanning from the Syrian border in the west to the Iranian border in the east.

The US-led international coalition against IS has encouraged both sides to restore security cooperation, warning that IS militant networks hide out in the disputed areas.

What’s next: It’s not clear the two sides will restore full joint security operations anytime soon. An effort to reboot the joint coordination committee by Iraq’s previous prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, in December 2018 led to joint surveys of the territories, but subsequent meetings bore little fruit as a dispute over oil revenues further set back relations.

Moreover, the US military consolidation at larger bases in Iraq, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic, has reduced Washington’s ability to facilitate such coordination on the ground, at least for the time being.

Know more: See Adam Lucente’s piece on the increase in IS attacks in Iraq during the coronavirus lockdown.