Sep 10, 2019

The Donald Trump administration is worried that the Islamic State (IS) could take advantage of ongoing tensions between Iraq’s government and Kurdish authorities to gain sanctuary as the Pentagon tracks down sleeper cells from the militant group.

IS “currently exploits security gaps that exist in Iraq’s disputed territories and along the line of separation between Iraqi and Kurdish security forces,” said Michael Mulroy, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary for the Middle East. “Ensuring that [IS] is not able to regain strength or territory in these areas is in the utmost interest of both Iraqi and Kurdish security forces.”

The concerns come amid an uptick in IS activity in Iraq centered around Kurdish areas. IS has launched a handful of mortar and insurgent attacks in the disputed territories in recent weeks, mostly concentrated in agriculture-heavy Diyala province, where the group’s sleeper cells have grown in valley pockets along the Hamrin mountain range.

In a report released last month, the Pentagon’s inspector general said IS is able to use the disputed Kurdish territories to “find safe haven to regroup and plan attacks,” as the Iraqi government has shown limited interest in setting up joint security arrangements with the Kurdish peshmerga.

Defense Department spokeswoman Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told Al-Monitor in April that the peshmerga have focused on keeping pressure on IS sleeper cells in northern Iraq. The Pentagon has insisted that it will continue training and equipping the peshmerga forces, even as Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State nearly two years ago, though the Trump administration slashed the budget for equipping the Kurdish fighters by more than half earlier this year.