Kurdish authorities in Iraq offered on Wednesday to put an independence drive on hold, stepping up efforts to resolve a crisis in relations with Baghdad via dialogue rather than military means.
But an Iraqi military spokesman suggested an offensive to wrest back Kurdish-held territory would continue regardless.
The Iraqi government has transformed the balance of power in the north of the country since launching a campaign last week against the Kurds, who govern an autonomous region of three northern provinces.
"The fighting between the two sides will not produce a victory for any, it will take the country to total destruction," said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in a statement.
The KRG proposed an immediate ceasefire, a freezing of the results of a September referendum in which Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence, and “starting an open dialogue with the federal government based on the Iraqi constitution”.
Baghdad declared the referendum illegal and responded to the vote by seizing back the city of Kirkuk, the oil-producing areas around it and other territory that the Kurds had captured from the Islamic State terror group.
In a brief social media comment hinting that the campaign would continue, an Iraqi military spokesman said: “Military operations are not connected to politics.”
Oil pipeline
Prime minister Haidar al-Abadi has ordered his army to recapture all disputed territory and has also demanded central control of Iraq's border crossings with Turkey, all of which are inside the Kurdish autonomous region.
Kurdish peshmerga forces beat back an advance by Iranian-backed pro-government paramilitaries on Tuesday in the region of Rabi'a, 40km south of the Fish-Khabur border area with Turkey and Syria, Kurdish officials said.
Fish-Khabur is strategically vital because oil from both Kurdish and government-held parts of northern Iraq cross at a pipeline there into Turkey, the main route out of the area for international export, crucial for any Kurdish independence bid.
The fighting so far has taken place outside the Kurdish autonomous region, but Fish-Khabur is located within it.
The fighting between the central government and the Kurds is particularly tricky for the United States which is a close ally of both sides, arming and training both the Kurds and the central government's army to fight against Islamic State, also known as Isis.
The Iraqi government’s advance over the past week has been achieved with comparatively little violence, with Kurds mostly withdrawing without a fight. – Reuters