On August 25, a group of Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters attempted to seize the Kulajo and Chalaw Khalid oil fields in the Garmian District of Sulaymaniyah Governorate.

The PMF entered the district under the pretext of addressing the presence of ISIS in the area.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated several PMF groups as terrorist organizations in November 2023.

Today, PMF attempted to take control of the Gilabat-Qamar field in Kifri ahead of planned operations by UAE's Crescent Petroleum. After talks between Erbil and Baghdad, the PMF will withdraw but intends to keep pushing for control, citing ISIS presence in the area.

— Ali Sarbaz Jaff (@alisjaff98) August 25, 2024

Following talks between Baghdad and Erbil, the PMF force reportedly withdrew from the area.

Previously, on June 25, 2022, the Iraqi Army had advanced near the Khor Mor gas field in the Chamchamal District of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, leading peshmerga forces to reinforce their presence in the area.

“Iraqi security forces periodically engage in provocative actions against Kurdish security forces in disputed areas, seemingly to test the waters and assess the Kurds’ responses,” Yerevan Saeed, Director of the Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace at the School of International Service at the American University, told Kurdistan Chronicle.

“Observing the unprecedented political divisions and public dissatisfaction with the economic situation within the Kurdistan Region, they likely viewed this as an opportune moment to seize territories, particularly those rich in natural resources like oil.”

“The area targeted by the PMF includes several oil wells, and their presence was justified under the guise of protecting these valuable resources. However, a combination of a rapid and strategic deployment of peshmerga reinforcements and the diplomacy of Kurdish representatives in Baghdad played a crucial role in compelling the PMF to eventually retreat from the area.”

Mohammed Salih, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Kurdistan Chronicle that the PMF attempt “is a message about the PMF and Baghdad’s intentions toward Kurdistan, in that they intend to occupy Kurdish-controlled oil fields.”

The field is under the control of peshmerga units aligned with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

“It also shows the fallacy of the PUK’s policy in dealing with Baghdad. In the absence of a unified Kurdish stance, PUK on its own is too weak due to ongoing internal disputes to confront the PMF and Baghdad.”