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ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurds are sticking to a plan to hold an independence referendum on Sept. 25, despite a U.S. request to postpone it, a high-ranking Kurdish official told Reuters on Saturday.

The United States and other Western nations are worried that the vote could ignite a fresh conflict with Baghdad and turn into another regional flashpoint. Turkey, Iran and Syria, which together with Iraq have sizeable Kurdish populations, all oppose an independent Kurdistan.

"The date is standing, Sept. 25, no change," said Hoshyar Zebari, a close adviser to Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Barzani to postpone the referendum.

Tillerson made the request in a phone call with Barzani on Thursday, Zebari said.

"On the issue of the postponement of the referendum, the President (Barzani) stated that the people of the Kurdistan Region would expect guarantees and alternatives for their future," said a statement issued on Friday by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) presidency, after Tillerson's call.

The U.S. State Department said in June it was concerned that the referendum will distract from "more urgent priorities" such as the defeat of Islamic State militants.

Islamic State's self-proclaimed "caliphate" effectively collapsed last month, when U.S.-backed Iraqi forces completed the takeover of the militants' capital in Iraq, Mosul, after a nine-month campaign in which Kurdish Peshmerga fighters took part.

The hardline Sunni militants remain however in control of territory in western Iraq and eastern Syria. The United States has pledged to maintain its backing to allied forces in both countries until the militants' total defeat.

The Kurds have been seeking an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East, but their territory ended up split between modern-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.

Barzani, whose father led struggles against Baghdad in the 1960s and 1970s, told Reuters in July the Kurds would take responsibility for the expected 'yes' outcome of the referendum, and pursue its implementation through dialogue with Baghdad and regional powers to avoid conflict."We have to rectify the history of mistreatment of our people and those who are saying that independence is not good, our question to them is, 'if it's not good for us, why is it good for you?'," he said in an interview in the KRG capital, Erbil.

Iraq has been led by Shi'ites since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, by the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

The country's majority Shi'ite community mainly lives in the south while the Kurds and Sunni Arabs inhabit two corners of the north. The center around Baghdad is mixed.

Kurdish officials have said disputed areas, including the oil-rich Kirkuk region, will be covered by the referendum, to determine whether they would want to remain or not in Kurdistan.

The Kurdish Peshmerga in 2014 prevented Islamic State from capturing Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, after the Iraqi army fled in the face of the militants. They are effectively running the region, also claimed by Turkmen and Arabs.

Hardline Iran-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militias have threatened to expel the Kurds by force from this region and three other disputed areas - Sinjar, Makhmour and Khanaqin.

Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Adrian Croft

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Iraq's Kurds stick to independence vote despite US request to postpone it - Reuters

On the strength of a third-quarter outburst, Gilas Pilipinas defeated Iraq 84-68 to improve to 2-0 in Group B play at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup inZouk Mosbeh, Lebanon.

The Philippines led by just one point at halftime, but they outscored Iraq 28-9 in the third quarter to build a lead that they never relinquished.

Iraq was essentially a one-man show, as guard Kevin Galloway led all scorers with 23 points to go along with 14 rebounds and six assists without much support from his teammates.

Guard Terrence Romeo turned in another solid performance for the Philippines with a team-high 17 points, but five other Gilas players scored at least eight points as well, which made the difference.

Both teams struggled mightily from a shooting perspective with the Philippines making just 37.8 percent of their attempts from the field, although they did connect at a 41.4 percent clip from beyond the arc.

Iraq made 35.9 percent of its shots from the field, and it also had a difficult time at the free-throw line, shooting just 53.3 percent.

While Iraq led by two points after the first quarter, Gilas chipped away and managed to take a narrow, one-point lead into the locker room.

Neither side was particularly strong offensively in the second quarter, but guard Jayson Castro took matters into his own hands on this play, courtesy of Sports5, by dishing out one of his team-high six assists:

The third quarter completely swung the momentum in the Philippines' favor, as they finally broke out with 28 points in the frame, while Iraq could hardly make a shot.

One of the biggest reasons for Iraq's issues in the quarter was the fact that Galloway went cold from the field.

In fact, he was unable to net a single point after scoring nearly half of Iraq's points in the opening half, according to Chuck Araneta of Sports5:

Gilas led by 20 points after three quarters of play, and there was little Iraq could do to dig out of the hole in the fourth quarter.

Iraq did manage 28 points in the final frame, as Galloway found his shooting stroke again, but it couldn't stop the Philippines and took a 16-point loss.

The Philippines have been impressive during a 2-0 start, but Araneta pointed out that they can stand to get even better:

Star guard Calvin Abueva had just three points in the win, and Gilas are far more dangerous when he is on his game.

Even so, the Philippines are now just one win away from clinching a spot in the quarterfinals, and they will have a chance to pick up that victory against Qatar on Sunday.

Iraq will face China on Sunday, and provided Gilas defeat Qatar as expected, both Iraq and China will advance to the playoff round for an opportunity to make the quarters as well.

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Gilas Pilipinas Defeats Iraq to Earn 2nd-Straight Win in 2017 FIBA Asia Cup - Bleacher Report

New evidence presented by experts to the United Nations Security Council has found that Isis is still a dangerous and capable militant organisation, despite its recent heavy losses across its territory in Syria and Iraq.

The 24-page report, discussed by member nations on Thursday, found there is ongoing Isis resistance in Mosul, despite the fact the Iraqi city was declared liberated by US-backed Iraqi coalition forces in July.

The bitter fight put up by militants showed that Isiscommand and control structure has not broken down completely, and remains a significant military threat by delegating decision-making responsibility to local commanders and switching to encrypted communications.

Footage shows Isis schoolgirl Linda Wenzel being captured in Iraq

The organisation has also become skilled at modifying or building its own drones for both spying and bombing purposes, it said.

While the groups financial situation is becoming more precarious, Isis is still raking in funds from oil profits, taxing and robbing local populations under its control and small inconspicuous remittances from supporters abroad, the report found, allowing it to motivate and enable international terror attack efforts.

Foreign fighters returning to their countries of origin as the caliphate crumbles pose a particular threat, the experts said, and radicalised children and teenagers in particular require specific attention and strategies that take into account the legal protections afforded to minors.

Outside Syria and Iraq, it is likely the top levels of the organisation will attempt to expand its operations in south-east Asian countries such as the Philippines, which is currently battling a bloody Isis insurgence that has killed 700 people in the city of Marawi.

Isis leaders have also sent money to places where the group doesnt have affiliates in an attempt to prepare for its eventual defeat in Iraq and Syria, according to an unidentified UN member state quoted in the report.

Isis and al-Qaeda both still pose a significant threat in and from Yemen, the authors said, where more than 30 recent failed extremist plots targeting areas in the Middle East originated from the war-torn country.

Al-Qaedas networks in the Arabian Peninsula, East and West Africa remain strong, the report said.

News agencies contributed to this report

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Isis is 'adapting' to military pressure in Iraq and Syria, finds UN report ... - The Independent

Sporadic clashes between Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) elements continue in the Old City area of Ninewa Governorates city of Mosul after the Government of Iraq (GoI) seized control of the city from ISIS on July 10. While the unpredictable security situation has hindered some returns, a total of 243,800 internally displaced persons (IDPs) had returned to areas of origin in Mosul as of August 8, according to U.S. Government (USG) partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As of August 8, approximately 839,500 people remained displaced as a result of GoI-led military operations to retake Mosul.

Widespread reports of collective punishment against displaced households suspected of affiliation with ISIS, including retribution, forced relocation, detention, and barring of IDPs from certain sites by camp management authorities, are raising significant protection concerns within the international humanitarian community.

Recent improvements to the water supply infrastructure in eastern Mosul have enabled relief agencies to reduce the amount of safe drinking water delivered to eastern neighborhoods from 3 million liters of water per day to approximately 500,000 liters per day, while still meeting the water needs of residents.

On August 4, the third anniversary of the ISIS attack on the Sinjar region of Ninewa, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten issued a statement condemning the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war, particularly the widespread and systematic campaign of sexual violence imposed by ISIS against Yezidi women and other minority groups in Iraq.

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Iraq - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #6, Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 - ReliefWeb

Once again, Christians are fleeing Iraq. But this time, its not because they are under attack from the jihadi extremists who have terrorized their communities for the past fourteen years. Its not even because of ISIS, which physically occupied the Nineveh Plain until just recently.

Its because they have lost hope that they can ever trust their neighbors again.

The situation for Christians is catastrophic, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Babylon, Archbishop Louis Sako, told me during a recent trip to northern Iraq.

According to the Hammurabi Human Rights Organizations, nearly half of the 120,000 Christian refugees who fled the Nineveh Plain to the camps controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government when ISIS attacked in June 2014 have now left the country for good.

Emigration actually increased after the liberation, said Louis Markos, a town councilman from Baghdeda (also known as Qaraqosh), the regional capitol of the Assyrian homeland in the Nineveh Plain, about 20 miles southeast of Mosul. When people went back and saw their houses ransacked, burned, or destroyed, they lost heart. They had waited for three years for their nightmare to end. It never did.

While the U.S. government has earmarked more than $100 million in reconstruction funds to help restore vital infrastructure to the Christian and Yezidi areas in northern Iraq, so far local residents see only devastation.

We havent seen a dollar of U.S. reconstruction funds, the Patriarch told me. Nothing has come.

A U.S. official involved in the funding, which Vice President Mike Pence pledged personally to the Patriarch when he visited the White House in May, told me the money has been sent to U.S. AID in Erbil and to the United Nations. Its to be spent on restoring water and electricity in the Nineveh Plain, he said. But if there are no people, they cant spend it.

Its a chicken and egg problem, I admit, he added. No people, no power. No power and water, no people.

The Patriarch insisted that Christians return home, despite the devastation. If we dont rebuild, others will come to occupy our villages and towns, he said. Already, they are putting pressure on Christians to prevent them from returning home.

Checkpoints manned separately by Kurdish Democratic Party peshmerga fighters and Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) militias make it difficult for families to return. At each of these checkpoints, we often wait up to two hours, Markos told me. Two weeks ago, I was turned back.

The KDP and the PMF have established a military Line of Control, effectively dividing the Assyrian Christian and Yazidi Nineveh Plain into two separate zones.

Towns that used to be just a ten minute drive from each other are now walled off from one another, requiring hours to reach crossing points manned by the warring militias.

The Kurds have been hardening their side of the border, to the north, by erecting concrete barriers and blockhouses, U.S. officials told me. While Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government, both insist that the military line is just a temporary separation, Assyrian Christian leaders fear it will become permanent, leaving them hopelessly divided.

Making matters worse, the Kurdish Democratic Party of KRG president Massoud Barzani has deposed prominent Assyrian Christian mayors in the Nineveh Plain in recent weeks, first in al Qosh and more recently in Tel Kaif, replacing them with Christian members of the KDP.

The move was so unpopular that protestors rattled the normally congenial KRG envoy to Washington, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, at a recent event at the U.S. Institute for Peace, calling on the KDP to get out of the Nineveh Plain.

The Nineveh Plain is not a disputed area, as some are claiming, the Patriarch reminded me. The Kurds and the Shia want to occupy the areas they liberated. They have no right to this.

Restoring trust among the many ethnic and religious communities of Northern Iraq will not be a simple task. The U.S. Institute of Peace has been holding workshops in the Nineveh Plain for many years in an effort to build bridges between mutually suspicious communities, some of them shut down by the KDP.

We Christians are the meat in the sandwich between the Arabs and the Kurds, the recently deposed Mayor of Tel Keif, Bassam Bello, told me six years ago during an earlier trip to the region.

When ISIS seized control of the area in June 2014, it was Sunni Arabs who ate the sandwich. Today, the Christians are being nibbled at both ends by Kurdish and Shiite Arab militias.

Our goal is to make the Nineveh Plain a magnet for Reconstruction, Yohanna Yousef Towaya, a local businessman who works with the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, told me. We are looking for private partners and NGOs to help us rebuild houses so migrs will return.

A big task, but an imperative one. Without reconstruction in the Nineveh Plain, there will be no more Christians in Iraq in a few years.

Kenneth R. Timmerman was on the national security and foreign policy advisory board of Trump for President, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2006.

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Christian Genocide In Iraq: The Patriarch's Plea - The Daily Caller