Mohammed Jassim Kakai, head of the security and defense committee in the Nineveh Provincial Council, told Rudaw in an interview that Iraqi authorities have increased intelligence efforts and stationed more troops across the area after a series of missile and drone attacks targeting the Kurdistan Region’s capital, measures that could "reduce the attacks by 90 percent."
“We have conducted a large distribution of the Iraqi Army, and intelligence capabilities have been increased across all sectors,” Kakai said, noting that he "cannot say it won't happen again," but stressed that "the Iraqi Army and local police in the area have all been put on high alert to prevent any group or party that wants to use Nineveh… for their personal goals."
His remarks come after numerous projectiles were fired toward Erbil over the past few days, as the US and Israel have intensified their aerial military campaign against Iran, which triggered Tehran’s proxies in Iraq to launch drone and rocket attacks toward the Kurdistan Region, particularly Erbil province, which hosts the US consulate and military bases. Civilian infrastructure has been targeted too.
According to Kakai, the areas most frequently used to launch attacks lie between "the borders of Bashiqa [district] reaching to the borders of Nimrud [ancient Assyrian city 30 km south of Mosul] and Gwer [district]. These areas, which are on the Mosul side, were used most because they are close to and border Erbil,” he said. “These are open and vast areas.”
Kakai said Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani recently dismissed several intelligence officials in Nineveh after determining that the Prime Minister’s office "had not been previously informed that such intentions existed or that certain groups wanted to attack."
“This is considered negligence on their part, and because they were negligent, they must be removed and replaced with more experienced people,” he added.
Kakai also revealed that authorities have identified several groups believed to be behind the attacks. He described them as small factions linked to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or Hashd al-Shaabi, but operating outside official command structures.
“There are these small groups acting outside the will of the PMF, because the official PMF is under the authority of the Prime Minister, who does not allow these violations at all," he said, adding that "there are fringe groups doing these things."
“So far, two of these groups have been identified and their names have been submitted to the Prime Minister’s office, but no one has been arrested yet,” he added.
According to Kakai, attackers have used mobile launchers mounted on vehicles to fire rockets toward Erbil.
“They used mobile launchers, specifically GMC-type vehicles, to fire the missiles,” he said, adding that some attacks were launched from locations only a few kilometers from Peshmerga positions in the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad.
He also emphasized the close ties between Nineveh and the Kurdistan Region.
“We are part of Nineveh and we are the Kurds of this city; the security and safety of the Kurdistan Region is part of the security of Nineveh province,” Kakai said. “We are neighbors. If you look at it, Nineveh and Erbil are counterparts. We do not accept this in any way.”
Sangar Abdulrahman contributed to this article.