During the attempt of the Iraqi forces and Hashd al-Shaabi to invade Kirkuk yesterday, guerrilla forces, supported by some peshmergas and armed civilians, built up a line of defense in order to resist.
After yesterday's aggression of the Iraqi forces and their affiliated group Hashd al-Shaabi on Kirkuk, HPG and YJA-Star guerrillas, volunteering civilians and peshmerga fighters,fought back. However, the withdrawal of the KDP forces caused the common defense line to break apart.
After the defense line broke apart, the guerrilla, armed civilians from Kirkuk and some peshmerga fighters, who had refused to leave, were able to continue the resistance for a while.
The Iraqi army began to attack the defense line of at Feylaq Crossing with tanks, after which the guerrillas, civilians and peshmergas here retreated to Rehîmava neighbourhood where they built up a new defense line.
The withdrawal of the KDP caused a huge demotivation to the locals, who argued; “if they withdraw with their heavy weapons and artillery, how are we supposed to resist anyway?”
On the other hand, some civilians took over a tank of the leaving Peshmergas and tried to use it. Later on, some members of the KDP returned, and took the weapon back and left again.
