Barzani says Kurds don’t eye Nineveh: Iraq PM

By Ali Jawwad and Hadi Hassan

BAGHDAD

President of the Kurdish Regional Government Massoud Barzani told Iraqi Premier Haidar al-Abadi that the Kurds don’t have ambitions in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province.

“Barzani told me that the Kurds don’t have ambitions in Nineveh,” al-Abadi said following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting discussed preparations for an anticipated offensive to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, from Daesh group.

“The fighting capabilities of Daesh gangs have badly diminished after hundreds of its militants were killed,” al-Abadi said.

He said Iraqi forces and allied fighters had killed a large number of foreign Daesh fighters in al-Khalidiya Island, 23km east of Ramadi.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said the Kurdish 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.

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi also said there was a great cooperation between the peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops with a view to retaking Mosul.

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.