Khazali says Israel seeks to ‘separate' Kurdish territories in Iraq, Syria

Rudaw Net

01-04-2025

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SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), said on Monday that Israel's main objective in allegedly reshaping the Middle East is to 'support the separation' of Kurdish territories in Iraq and Syria.
Delivering an Eid al-Fitr sermon, Khazali stated that Israel's so-called 'David Corridor,' a project aimed at expanding Israeli control to the Euphrates River, involves 'parts of the Iraqi borders and Iraqi lands.'
'Its goal … is to reach the Kurdish lands in Iraq and Syria, considering the ongoing cooperation [between Israel and the Kurds],' Khazali alleged, adding that the plan involves supporting the Kurds to separate from Iraq and Syria.
'The Israeli incursion and occupation of Syrian territory… are primarily aimed at realizing their ambitions to occupy Syrian territory and achieve the greater goal of reaching the Euphrates River,' he continued.
The Kurdish-controlled territories in northeast Syria (Rojava) run along the Euphrates River, with the southeastern part under the control of the new Syrian administration headed by President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Khazali's comments come amid increasing Israeli incursions into Syria. AAH is designated as a 'terrorist organization' by Washington because of its alleged ties to Iran and attacks on US and coalition forces.
Israel in Syria
In late March, a deadly Israeli airstrike on the southern province of Daraa drew international condemnation from regional and global powers such as Germany, Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it was targeting 'several terrorists who opened fire toward them,' adding that they launched airstrikes on two military bases in Syria's central Homs province to destroy "military capabilities" in the area. Damascus said six were killed in the Daraa attack.
Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, expressed concern in the Security Council on Tuesday about 'Israeli statements on its intention to stay in Syria' and its demands for southern Syria to be demilitarized.
Since Assad's ouster in early December, Israel has scrambled to destroy Damascus's military stockpiles. It also sent troops across the border into a buffer zone east of the annexed Golan Heights, justifying the move as a precaution amid the political instability in Syria.
Throughout the Syrian civil war, as well, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes, often justifying them under the pretext of targeting pro-Iran armed groups, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, which supported toppled president Bashar al-Assad at the time.
In early February, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged Syria's new rulers to respect minority rights, including those of the Druze, Kurds, and Alawites.
Minorities in Syria
In early March, however, Damascus faced widespread condemnation after a violent crackdown on Assad loyalists in the coastal Alawite-majority areas, where at least 1,500 people were killed - mostly civilians - according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The Kurds in Rojava and the Druze in southern Syria have been firm in demanding decentralization in post-Bashar al-Assad Syria, despite Damascus rejecting federalism and at times calling it a 'red line.'
Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - the de facto army of northeast Syria (Rojava) - said in early March that he would not reject Israeli support if offered. His remarks were in response to a comment by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had earlier expressed openness to support minorities in Syria, namely the Druze and the Kurds.
AAH in Iraq
AAH has also taken a firm stance on domestic political and security matters. In September, Khazali rejected the United States' delivery of a number of 105mm howitzers to the Peshmerga forces in August, which the Iraqi defense ministry said at the time was approved by previous federal cabinets. Khazali said it is "important to correct this mistake by returning them [the artillery] to the federal army."
Meanwhile, in early March, AAH boycotted a parliamentary session of the Iraqi parliament in protest of the exclusion of a contentious law from the agenda that aims to regulate the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) structure, salaries, and retirement policies.
The State of Law Coalition, led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Khazali's AAH, are among the most influential Shiite political parties in Iraq, both maintaining strong ties to Iran and advocating for the institutionalization of the PMF, which is composed of various armed factions - some of which have close ties to Iran.
The PMF was established in 2014 during the Islamic State's (ISIS) rise to power, which saw the group seize control of large parts of Iraq's north and west. The group was created following a fatwa, a religious edict, by Iraq's highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to protect the country's holy Shiite sites in the southern Najaf and Karbala provinces
Following the Kurdish referendum in 2017 and the defeat of ISIS, the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which was largely controlled by the Kurdish Peshmerga, was expelled and taken over by the PMF. The province is disputed between Baghdad and Erbil.