ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq -  The Barzani Charity Foundation in coordination with the Kurdistan Board of Investment on Sunday handed house keys to a total of 540 families of fallen Peshmerga soldiers killed in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), with Prime Minister Masrour Barzani promising this process would include every family who lost a Peshmerga in the three-year-long battle against the extremist group.

“President Barzani always considers himself indebted to the families of martyrs, and therefore this is a small duty compared to sacrifices the families of martyrs have endured,” Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Barzani said in a ceremony organized on Sunday in Erbil to hand over the residential units, referring to Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Prime Minister Barzani added that the residential units are given “regardless of political affiliation.”

During the three-year-long battle against ISIS from 2014 to 2017, the Peshmerga forces defended a front line of nearly 650 miles against the extremist group.

More than 2,000 Peshmerga soldiers were killed, over 10,000 wounded, and at least 70 were taken hostage in the fight, according to data from the KRG’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.

The Kurdish premier "promised" that every single family of fallen Peshmerga soldiers would receive housing units. 

Today’s process only included families of fallen Peshmerga soldiers in Erbil province. 

Musa Ahmed, head of the BCF said up to date, a total of 968 housing units have been given to “the honorable” families of the fallen Peshmerga soldiers.

“This project will continue,” Ahmed said. 

Ibrahim Samin, deputy head of the BCF told The New Region that “we are trying to serve the families of martyred Peshmerga soldiers across the cities and towns of the Kurdistan Region to help alleviate at least some of their plights by giving them household units."

Kurdish Peshmerga forces played a pivotal role in shattering the myth of ISIS, decisively contributing to the lasting defeat of the extremist group in 2017, three years after they occupied a significant swathe of territory.

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

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

In his latest remarks slamming a number of Iraqi Shiite and Sunni politicians who had voiced worry over arms delivery to the Peshmerga forces, KDP President Masoud Barzani described the Peshmerga as "a tree that has been watered with the blood of martyrs and tears of the mothers of martyrs."