Are Kurdish forces in Iraq settling old scores?
Human Rights Watch says Kurdish forces are destroying Arab homes and expanding their territory.
Unlawful retaliation. That is what Iraqi Kurdish forces are being accused of.
US-based group Human Rights Watch says that they are destroying large numbers of Arab homes and and even whole villages in northern Iraq, in what may amount to a war crime.
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The rights group says there’s evidence of further destruction during the latest offensive against in Mosul.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces are part of an Iraqi alliance, helped by US-led air strikes, that is battling to retake control of Mosul from ISIL.
Kurds make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East.
They have faced years of repression in their quest for an independent state.
So, are Kurdish forces committing war crimes in Iraq? And what does this mean for the country’s future?
Presenter: Martine Dennis
Guests:
Joe Stork – Deputy Director, Human Rights Watch, Middle East and North Africa Division
Judith Neurink – Erbil based Journalist and Founder of the Independent Media Centre in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq
Dindar Zebari – Deputy Minister for the Kurdistan Regional Government