Pro-government forces have launched a multi-pronged attack, tightening the military blockade around the city and setting the stage for a deeper assault.
In the week after a Peshmerga offensive designed to insulate key oil infrastructure from IS threats, North Gas Company and the Khabbaz oil field have come under attack.
A successful offensive Wednesday to the west of Kirkuk increases the buffer zone separating key oil infrastructure from IS militants.
The Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, the Kurdistan region’s busiest, has been periodically closed by Turkey as it targets PKK fighters and supporters.
After KRG forces win territory from IS militants south of Kirkuk, officers report widespread theft and destruction of homes belonging to displaced Sunni Arabs.
The KRG's economic lifeline is down again - and has been for one-third of August - as the government risks sliding into a spiral of debt.
At both Iraq's largest oil field and its only deep water port, demonstrators had been blocking access roads but disbanded after receiving guarantees of employment.
Amidst the fervor of a national protest movement, unemployed locals are blocking access to work sites and oil workers are calling for increased scrutiny on IOCs.
The PKK does not intend to make further attacks on the pipeline carrying oil from Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan port, though other Turkish infrastructure remains in the crosshairs.
Two senior northern oil officials have now been assassinated since late June.
