ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A senior Iraqi army official said on Sunday that there is frequent military cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) remnants, as well as joint operations to pursue human trafficking networks.  

 

Sabah al-Numan, spokesman for Iraq’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, noted that Baghdad and Erbil work closely together under the Joint Operations Command.  

 

“The security forces in the Kurdistan Region are part of the Iraqi security system,” he said. “We coordinate operations and share responsibilities based on assigned areas and duties.”  

 

He added that this coordination is particularly strong in the battle against ISIS, with both sides conducting joint operations and sharing intelligence to locate remaining ISIS fighters.  

 

“There is ongoing coordination and even joint operations between Erbil and Baghdad in key areas,” he said. “These areas used to be weak spots that ISIS exploited to plan attacks. Now, they are fully secured.”  

 

He mentioned that efforts are ongoing to establish a special force to help secure those areas of mutual concern between Baghdad and Erbil.  

 

Kurdish Peshmerga forces played a crucial role in dismantling the myth of ISIS, significantly contributing to the group's lasting defeat in 2017, three years after they occupied a substantial amount of territory.  

 

The Iraqi army and Peshmerga forces currently maintain joint efforts to secure the security vacuum in disputed territories.  

 

Seven years following the territorial defeat of ISIS, the Peshmerga and Iraqi armed forces routinely conduct joint operations to eliminate the group’s remnants.

 

Most of the joint operations between Erbil and Baghdad have taken place in Kirkuk, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Nineveh provinces.  

 

Numan also commended the Kurdistan Region’s role in combating drug trafficking by assisting in tracking drug dealers and suspects potentially hiding in the region.  

 

The Kurdistan Region’s anti-narcotics department announced in March that they had coordinated with the Iraqi government to seize over one ton of Captagon pills smuggled into Iraq from Syria via Turkey.