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MAKHMOUR FRONT, Kurdistan Region – As Shkak Omar, a young Kurdish commander in the Iraqi Army stepped into an armored vehicle with fellow Iraqi soldiers to monitor fighting on the Makhmour front south of Erbil, he reflected on being a Kurd in an army dominated by Arabs.It is here in the flat plains that the Iraqi Army began an offensive a week ago to liberate strategic villages that are seen as the gateway to the liberation of Mosul, which has been the ISIS stronghold in Iraq since the militants seized the major Iraqi city in June 2014.Although the Kurdish Peshmerga are not involved in the latest fighting in Makhmour and are there for support, the fighting for Mosul is expected to have the Peshmerga fight together with Iraqi forces and backed by the US-led coalition.Iraqi Army Kurdish soldiers said they felt at home in the ongoing offensive in Makhmour, because they are fighting on their own terrain and are comforted by the Peshmerga watching their backs.“This is our home and the Iraqi Army understands that, and so they need us here more than ever,” Omar told a Rudaw reporter during a lull in the fighting due to bad weather. “We know the region better and we have great relations with our Peshmerga forces,” Omar explained.The presence of the Kurds in the Iraqi army ranks is readily discernible: Kurdish flags fly beside Iraqi ones in Iraqi Army bunkers in Makhmour, which lies south of Erbil.Omar, a commander who has been in the Iraqi Army since 2006 and has fought ISIS in Tal Afar, Baghdad and even Mosul -- before Iraq’s second-largest city fell to ISIS in June 2014 -- said that the Makhmour front was the only place where Kurdish flags were allowed to fly atop Iraqi Army bases.“I am a Kurd and a commander in Iraqi army, but I have my own flag, the Kurdish flag you see flying next to the Iraqi flag at our bases. The Iraqi flag represents the country that we are a part of, so it must be respected” Omar told Rudaw English.The Makhmour front was defended by the Peshmerga until an Iraqi Army brigade arrived in February as part of the preparations underway for the long-anticipated Mosul offensive. A US Marines base also has been set up, providing artillery fire to the Iraqis. The Iraqi army arrived in Makhmour after receiving permission from the Peshmerga.Responding to reports that Iraqi soldiers are not advancing as they would have liked, Iraq's Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi confirmed that was true.In “the beginning the operation was slow and that was because we were not familiar with the area,” Obeidi explained to journalists. “We want to start the operation slowly to see what kind of tactics they (ISIS) use against us,” he said.“Generally speaking operations are ongoing and they will continue. The morale of the Iraqi Army is good,” he added. “We see in coming days how successful operations will be.”Iraqi Army vehicles pass through Kurdish Peshmerga forces on their way to the Makhmour front. Photo: Farzin Hassan, Rudaw.Some reports have suggested that Iraqi soldiers were fleeing in face of ISIS assaults in the Makhmour fighting. The Iraqis are under pressure to prove themselves after they allowed ISIS to take over about a third of the country when it stormed through Iraq in June 2014, leaving behind huge weapons stocks that ISIS has used in nearly three years of fighting.Hoshang Khanemir, a young Peshmerga soldier standing with fellow fighters on a high spot at a base 10 kilometers from the fighting, watched as Iraqi Army vehicles drove toward the front. He said he wasn’t impressed with what he had seen of the Iraqis.“We do want to trust them, but the truth is that they have been fighting for three days, backed by coalition forces, yet all they liberated are three villages, two of them without Daesh resistance,” Khanemir said. “They have all kinds of weapons and military equipment -- really good ones, and all American -- but still they have shown no interest or ability in battle.”But Blnd Hatim, a Kurdish commander in the Iraqi Army, defended his men, saying the fighting had gone as planned.“Maybe the operation seems slow for the Peshmerga forces but it is certainly according to the plan,” he said. “If Peshmerga forces were fighting alongside us the operation would be much faster,” he confessed, declining to comment any further.Najat Ali, a Peshmerga Commander in Makhmour, confirmed his men were ready to jump into the fray if needed.“In case the Iraqi Army offensive fails, we are here and on high alert to defend against possible Daesh counterattacks,” he said, referring to ISIS by its derogatory Arabic appellation.Iraq’s autonomous Kurds have had a tense relationship with Baghdad. The Peshmerga, who the constitution says must be paid by Baghdad, have not received salaries for months. Kurdish President Masoud Barzani has said that a referendum on independence from Baghdad may take place in October.On the Makhmour frontlines, the Kurds in the Iraqi army are allowed only to fly their flags at the bases. They are not allowed to raise their flags inside the liberated villages or play their own music when celebrating battle victories, Kurdish soldiers and commanders said.One Kurdish commander with 13 years of experience inside the Iraqi Army, said the atmosphere in Makhmour was unprecedented – not seen in the battles in Tikrit, Fallujah or Baghdad.“We are in our land now and we feel secure now, especially when we are in the bases with other Peshmerga forces. While in Baghdad or Tikrit you never allow to mention anything related to the Kurds even to your own forces,” said the commander, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We can breathe here and we talk the way we want.”Omar, the young Kurdish commander, confessed that after a fight he loved to spend time with other fellow Kurds of the Peshmerga forces.“After hard battles when we return to bases where the Peshmerga forces are, it feels like returning to your mother’s embrace,” he said, as another young Kurdish soldier in his unit nodded in agreement.