A news video clip that has gone viral shows several ISIS members standing with their masked leader while their leader is cursing and threatening the Masoud Al-Barazani, President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, and threatening the Kurds to join ISIS and start fighting in the name of God and Islam or be slaughtered.
“With these guns, we will return to Kurdistan and we will kill all of the members of the KDP, PUK and security forces,” said the masked man, who identified himself as “Abu-Haris Al-Kurdi”.
ISIS’ latest threats toward the Kurds are the result of the Kurdish army Peshmerga’s latest accomplishments and victories in several territories once controlled by ISIS. Stating from Kirkuk, President Barzani warned, “We are not facing a terrorist organization, but a well-armed terrorist state that is against every human principle.”
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Kurdistan’s parliament, Yousif Muhammad, echoed Barzani’s warnings and added that the international community must help the Kurds fight ISIS.
ISIS has been attacking the Kurdistan region since last August, but have failed to maintain control of any territory in the Kurdish region, thanks to Kurdish fighters. The Kurdistan region of Iraq is well protected by the Kurdish Army and the International Alliance. the majority of Kurdish citizens despise ISIS and are very supportive of their army. Most Kurds expect the end demise of ISIS to happen soon, or at least ISIS’ extermination from the Kurdish regions.
The Kurds are intimately familiar with attacks and abuse from outside factions. In the 80’s and 90’s, the Kurds suffered immense casualties by Saddam Hussein and his Iraqi government through the use of chemical weapons. Then, thousands of Kurds were killed or displaced from their territories.