Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah

Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party (KSDP) Secretary-General Mohammed Haji Mahmoud on Saturday accused the United States of harming the Kurds at key moments, including in 1975, during the October 2017 events, and more recently in Syria.

“We launched the revolution and did not ask anything from America. Even when they were here, they did not provide assistance to the Kurds,” Haji Mahmoud, also known as “Kaka Hama,” said in a press conference.

Haji Mahmoud also criticized the Iraqi government, arguing that its failure to regain control of the Bashiqa-Zilkan military base showed that Iraq lacked sovereignty.

On the Peshmerga, he took issue with Kurdish political parties for failing to agree on a day to commemorate the force. “The parties cannot agree on setting a day for the Peshmerga. In the world, there is a day for oranges and a day for birds,” he remarked.

Earlier this week, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the departure of US forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region (KRI), bringing the Operation Inherent Resolve* mission in Iraq to an end.

Middle East Eye, however, reported, citing Kurdish officials, residents, and security experts, that the departure has raised concerns in the KRI over renewed drone and missile attacks and remaining gaps in air defense.

Since the US-Iran war began on February 28, the Kurdistan Region has faced more than 1,000 drone and ballistic missile attacks, some of them deadly, according to the KRI’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.

*Operation Inherent Resolve is the U.S.-led military campaign against ISIS. Its command, the Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), has advised, assisted, and enabled forces fighting the group in Iraq since CENTCOM established it in 2014.

Read more: Kurdistan Region faces air-defense gap as US troops leave Iraq