Kurdish offensive in Iraq

Kurdish forces are seizing new territory in northern Iraq that they say will become part of their autonomous region. The moves are further straining relations between the Kurds and the Baghdad government and Shiite militias, all ostensibly allies in the fight against Daesh.

Just east of Mosul, Kurdish engineering teams on a recent day were laying down a 3-metre wide, 20-kilometre long trench and 2-metre high berms, marking the new front line after recapturing the village of Qarqashah and neighbouring hamlets from Daesh earlier this month.

The new de facto borders established by the Kurdish fighters, known as Peshmerga, raise the potential for conflict between Iraq’s Kurds and Arabs after any eventual defeat of Daesh — just as in neighbouring Syria, where Kurds have also dramatically expanded their zone of control.