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During Mosul Offensive, Kurdish Fighters Clear Arab Village, Demolish Homes

Before dawn on Oct. 21, as Iraqi forces pressed their offensive against Islamic State in nearby Mosul, more than a dozen militants from the group entered this mostly Arab village in Kirkuk province and claimed control in a message blared through the mosque’s loudspeaker, say eyewitnesses. Hours later, Kurdish fighters who intervened to liberate the […]

Margherita Stancati and Ali A. Nabhan write for The Wall Street Journal:

Before dawn on Oct. 21, as Iraqi forces pressed their offensive against Islamic State in nearby Mosul, more than a dozen militants from the group entered this mostly Arab village in Kirkuk province and claimed control in a message blared through the mosque’s loudspeaker, say eyewitnesses. Hours later, Kurdish fighters who intervened to liberate the village expelled its residents and began demolishing their homes.

Kurdish forces in Iraq are taking a lead role in fighting Islamic State. But in the process, the Kurds are evicting hundreds of Sunni Arabs and destroying their houses, say residents, local officials and rights groups. That practice has fueled resentment among the local Arab population and risks breathing new life into the insurgency just as a U.S.-backed government offensive pushes into Mosul, the Sunni extremist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq.

“They are forcing the Arabs out of the village,” said a Qotan resident, Ismail al Anizi, speaking on the edge of the village of some 100 houses, almost all of them now flattened, including his own.