[RUDAW.NET] The Kurdistan Region’s presidency said on Monday that remarks by a Shiite leader who reportedly threatened to deploy the Iraqi forces in Kurdish areas liberated by the Peshmerga, follow the path of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and ISIS, both enemies who lost due to the bravery of the Kurds.Baqir Jabir Solaq, a Shiite leader from the Islamic Supreme Council, in remarks published on social media and some media outlets titled "Bashiqa, we are coming," reportedly said the Iraqi forces and their allied Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries have become strong enough to head to liberated Kurdish areas
"We now have a strong army and Hashd al-Shaabi that cannot be stopped by any border or embankments as a response to the remarks by some that say they will stay in areas that were liberated recently by the Peshmerga," Solaq said.
The Islamic Supreme Council is headed by the powerful Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakeem, who also heads the Shiite National Alliance with whom the Kurdish parties had very strong relations, in particular during their struggle against the former Iraqi regime, ties which have continued since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Last month, the Kurdish President Masoud Barzani in a joint presser with Hakeem in the newly-liberated Bashiqa town hailed the unprecedented cooperation between the Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga in their war against the ISIS.