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ERBIL, Iraq -- The threat of political chaos looms over the imminent defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Mosul, fuelling fear of a dramatically different -- and deadly -- use for Canada's military support for Kurdish peshmerga forces.

Much of the potential upheaval revolves around whether Iraq's disparate Sunni and Shia populations can finally set aside their differences and come together in some sort of reconciliation.

But many are also watching to see whether the Kurds plan to demand independence from the rest of Iraq, as their leaders -- whose arguments for separation echo Canada's own sovereigntist movement -- have promised.

The Kurds have already made it clear they are ready to fight for so-called "disputed territory" that the peshmerga have liberated from ISIS, but whose ownership is claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil.

All of which sets up potentially awkward questions for Canada and the federal government, which has thus far said little about the potential long-term effects of its mission to wipe out ISIS.

The Kurds in northern Iraq have enjoyed a degree of self-rule since 1991, when the West established no-fly zones to stop a bloody campaign by Saddam Hussein's forces that killed thousands, mostly civilians.

That de facto autonomy became official after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which saw a new constitution enshrine the Kurds' right to self-government within a unified Iraq.

But persistent tensions appear ready to come to a head as Kurdish president Masoud Barzani has promised a referendum on independence once ISIL is defeated.

The Kurdistan regional government's top diplomat, Falah Mustafa, says the time has come for an "amicable divorce" from the rest of Iraq.

"The One Iraq policy is wrong," he said last week in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press.

"You tried it, it failed. Don't insist on repeating a failed experience. We can't live together within the same country. But we may be good neighbours."

Mustafa said the Kurds have fulfilled their obligations in the constitution by remaining part of Iraq, but the central government in Baghdad has not fulfilled its part of the bargain by suspending budget transfers.

The money, which is supposed to account for 17 per cent of the national budget, has been held up despite the fact the Kurds have been fighting ISIL and hosting millions of refugees.

"We're supposed to be Iraqis and we are asked to be Iraqis, but at the same time we do not benefit from being Iraqi," he said.

The central government has said the payments were suspended because the Kurds broke a promise to sell their oil through Baghdad.

The differences between Kurds and the rest of Iraq go beyond money, Mustafa said.

"We have our own language, history, culture, music, geography, which is different from that of Arabs," he said, before citing several examples of perceived slights by recent Iraqi leaders toward the Kurds.

None of which includes the pain and suffering Kurds experienced under Hussein's "scorched-earth policy," the effects of which Mustafa said continue to be felt today.

Many Kurds are in favour of statehood at some point, but some worry that the foundations for a successful state -- including a strong economy and an end to corruption -- have not been laid.

"Once we are economically, financially and politically independent, only then will we be truly independent," Kara Alsarraj said between sips of tea at a popular shop in the shadow of Erbil's world-famous citadel.

One Western official, speaking on background because of the need to work with both sides, said the future of Iraq rests with whether the Kurds press for independence or not.

"Question No. 1 is: Does everyone agree that Iraq should hold together?" the official said. "Because if you don't agree that it should hold together, you're not going to reconcile. And that's all about the Kurds. Are the Kurds in or are the Kurds out?"

Mustafa insists any push for independence will be peacefully negotiated with Baghdad. But he adds: "We have been free from Iraq since 1991. We defied Saddam Hussein."

While the question of independence may remain rhetorical for the moment, the issue of what will happen to the disputed territories is a powder keg waiting to explode.

The Iraqi military abandoned much of the territory, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the rocky plains to the east and north of Mosul, to ISIS in the summer of 2014, before the peshmerga freed it all last fall.

Driving those plains last week, the peshmerga remained in force, with guard posts and bunkers dotting a new dirt berm that Kurdish officials say is 1,000 kilometres long and marks the extent of their territory.

Among the communities encompassed by the dirt wall is the ruined town of Bashiqa.

Destroyed buildings, bomb craters and the desiccated bodies of two ISIL fighters stand as a stark reminder of the fierce fighting that occurred here last October and November.

Sitting inside a makeshift headquarters on the edge of town, the local commander, Brig.-Gen. Bahrim Yessin, recalled how Canadian special forces trained his troops before the battle for Bashiqa.

They then called in airstrikes and provide up-to-date intelligence during the actual fighting.

Yessin acknowledged Bashiqa and the surrounding fields are technically disputed territory.

But when asked if he thought it belonged to Iraq or Kurdistan, Yessin said through a translator: "Without any hesitation, this area is Kurdish."

That view is echoed all the way up to the president, who has said the peshmerga will not give up any territory that they have fought and died for against ISIL.

Global Affairs Canada warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in November 2015 about the potential long-term consequences of supporting the Kurds.

"Should the (ISIS) threat recede," the officials said in a briefing note, "Baghdad will have to contend with a range of land disputes with the (Kurdish regional government), as well as strengthened Iraqi Kurdish forces, which have received training and equipment from coalition members, including Canada."

Three months later, the Liberal government announced it would triple the number of Canadian military trainers in northern Iraq and provide weapons to the Kurds.

While Baghdad has said little about the disputed territories, a number of militia groups ostensibly formed to fight ISIL have already clashed with the Kurds.

The Kurds, meanwhile, want the central government to enact a section of the constitution that calls for local referendums to decide whether the land is Iraqi or Kurdish.

Human rights groups have accused the peshmerga of destroying non-Kurdish villages and refusing to let non-Kurds displaced by fighting return to their homes. The Kurds fiercely deny the charges.

Back at his headquarters in Bashiqa, Yessin said he hopes ownership of the disputed territories will be resolved peacefully, "but if the Iraqi military or anyone else wants it, we will not let it happen."

Canadian officials have repeatedly noted that with the Iraqi military in disarray, there were no other reliable partners for fighting ISIL when it was capturing large swaths of territory in 2014.

Even now, they highlight the good co-operation between all the different factions in the fight, and reiterate the importance of all factions staying united against a threat that's not disappearing any time soon.

Brig.-Gen. David Anderson, who is leading a multinational team of military advisers posted inside the Iraqi defence ministry in Baghdad, acknowledged the political situation is "squishy."

"Do I think there's the potential for friction? Absolutely," he said. "But right now, everyone is saying all of the right things."

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Risk of post-ISIS chaos in Iraq casts new light on Canada's support for Kurds - CTV News

By Isabel Coles | ERBIL, Iraq

ERBIL, Iraq Rival Kurdish groups clashed in Iraq's northwestern Sinjar region on Friday, two Kurdish security sources said.

The deadly fighting erupted when Peshmerga Rojava forces moved towards the border with Syria, encroaching on territory controlled by a local affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The unrest highlights the risk of conflict and turf war between the multiple forces arrayed against Islamic State, many of which lean on regional patrons for political support and arms.

The Peshmerga Rojava is made up of Kurds from Syria and was formed and trained in Iraq with the backing of Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq.

Friday's clashes, which lasted several hours, pitted them against the YBS, which was set up there by the PKK after it came to the aid of the Yazidi population when the area was overrun by Islamic State in the summer of 2014.

"There are martyrs and wounded on both sides," one security source said.

The war with Islamic State has enabled Kurds to expand their territory and influence in both Iraq and Syria, but it has also heightened competition amongst them, particularly in the Sinjar region.

The PKK's foothold in the area has put it on a collision course with Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is aligned with Turkey and counts Sinjar as part of its territory.

Turkey is at war with the PKK. On Friday, foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday said the group posed "a threat against the legitimate regional government in Northern Iraq and they are used by some countries against the current administration there."

"It's our duty to destroy these terrorist organizations wherever they are," the minister told reporters in Ankara.

Another PKK affiliate has been in control of Kurdish territory in northeast Syria on the border with Turkey since the civil war between forces loyal and opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

That group, the PYD, has repeatedly denied entry to the Peshmerga Rojava.

In a statement on Friday, the YBS said the fighting began when the Peshmerga Rojava tried to seize its positions in Khanasor. The YBS accused Turkey of instigating the violence.

"It is a totally provocative initiative," the YBS said.

Most Yazidis are still displaced from their homes, but some families who returned to Sinjar fled again on Friday, including a 19-year from the town of Khanasor where the clashes took place.

"It's a struggle between two political parties but the victims are the Yazidis," he said on condition of anonymity. "Aren't they supposed to be fighting Daesh (Islamic State)? Let them go and get rid of them."

(Reporting by Isabel Coles in Erbil and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara; Editing by Richard Lough and Dominic Evans)

BEIJING Ri Jong Chol, a suspect in the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, said in Beijing that he was a victim of a conspiracy by Malaysian authorities attempting to damage the honor of North Korea.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank Under an army watchtower and across the street from the concrete wall Israel has built in parts of the occupied West Bank, street artist Banksy has opened a guesthouse in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

PARIS French far-right leader Marine Le Pen refused to attend a summons by judges over allegations of misuse of European Union funds, her lawyer told Reuters on Friday.

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Rival Kurdish factions clash in northwestern Iraq - Reuters

SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 3, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Coalition military forces conducted two strikes consisting of four engagements in Syria:

-- Near Palmyra, a strike damaged a bridge.

-- Near Raqqa, a strike destroyed a weapons storage facility.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted 14 strikes consisting of 74 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraqs government:

-- Near Haditha, a strike suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

-- Near Mosul, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed six fighting positions, four heavy machine guns, three medium machine guns, two tunnels, a rocket-propelled grenade system, a vehicle bomb and a vehicle bomb facility; damaged seven supply routes; and suppressed 22 mortar teams.

-- Near Qaim, a strike destroyed an ISIS storage facility.

-- Near Rawah, 10 strikes engaged an ISIS staging area and destroyed nine ISIS-held buildings.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect. For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

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Inherent Resolve Strikes Target ISIS in Syria, Iraq > U.S. ... - Department of Defense

Thousands of civilians fled Mosul overnight as Iraqi forces advanced north of a sprawling military base near the city's airport on Friday.

Iraq's special forces pushed into the Wadi Hajar district in western Mosul and retook the area from the Islamic State group Friday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, spokesman of the Joint Military Operations.

Special forces Brig. Gen. Haider al-Obeidi said clearing operations were ongoing in the area and his forces were close to linking up with the militarized federal police forces who were pushing up along the western bank of the Tigris river.

Iraqi forces, including special operations forces and federal police units, launched an attack on the western part of Mosul nearly two weeks ago to dislodge IS. Since the offensive began, more than 28,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the United Nations.

Nahla Ahmed, 50 fled Mosul late Thursday night, walking more than five kilometers (three miles) from her home in the Shuhada neighborhood.

"All the families were hiding behind a wall," she said, explaining how they escaped an IS-held part of the city. "We gave the children valium so they wouldn't cry and (the IS fighters) wouldn't catch us."

Ahmed, like most of the civilians who have escaped Mosul in the past week, fled through Mamun neighborhood. The district is partially controlled by Iraq's special forces.

Maj. Saif Ali, who is stationed in Mamun, said huge crowds of civilians began pouring into the area from neighboring districts just after midnight. Ali said civilians in western Mosul are becoming increasingly desperate as food and water supplies begin to run out.

"In total 7,000 people fled through this area last night," he said. "We were up all night trying to control the crowds."

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday "the latest figures we have of people recorded leaving western Mosul is 28,400 and that's since operations in west Mosul started on Feb. 19. However we're also tracking down reports thousands more people are on the move."

He said that on average about 4,000 people a day have been fleeing since the beginning of the operation.

"We think about 750,000 civilians are still trapped inside western Mosul, either sheltering from the fighting or waiting to flee," Dujarric said. "We're deeply concerned with their well-being and safety and their access to vital resources."

By late morning nearly all the families had been moved out of Mamun. The neighborhood was littered with discarded clothing and blankets piled up in empty lots and on street corners.

Iraqi forces deployed east of Mamun advanced into Wadi Hajar, a neighborhood north of the Ghazlani military base.

The U.S.-led coalition dropped more than 15 munitions in Mosul on Friday, Ali said, saying they targeted car bombs, sniper positions and small IS mortar units.

Brig. Gen. Wathaq al-Hamdani, Nineveh province's police chief, said IS targeted the Al Jazair District in western Mosul with "Katyusha launchers with missiles carrying chlorine gas" in at least two separate incidents over the past few days. He added that five civilians had been taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for asphyxiation.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Friday that seven patients likely exposed to a toxic chemical agent were currently being treated at Rozhawa hospital, close to Mosul, where fighting is ongoing.

"During the past two days, the hospital has admitted five children and two women showing clinical symptoms consistent with an exposure to a blistering chemical agent," said the ICRC's Regional Director for the Middle East, Robert Mardini, adding "We strongly condemn any use of chemical weapons, by any party, anywhere."

At a screening center south of the city, hundreds of women and children were gathered on the cement ground of an old gas station as men were screened in a parking lot next door. An Iraqi intelligence officer walked with an informant past the rows of men and boys sitting on the ground before they had their names checked against a database.

Muthana Younis also fled Mosul late Thursday night.

"We waited until all the IS fighters left the streets," he said, his track suit covered in mud from the journey. Younis walked for hours, crossing more than five kilometers (three miles) with his mother, father, brother and sister.

"There were mortars and we could hear gunfire," Younis said. He said explaining his younger siblings were so scared at times he had to carry them. "But we had to flee, we had run out of food."

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Thousands flee Iraq's Mosul overnight, as fighting rages on - ABC News

Army veteran Chris Roessner returned home from Iraq in 2004 and spent the next 10 years writing and pitching a film based on his experiences at war. Now, that film, Sand Castle, is set to premiere on Netflix in April. Judging from the trailer, Roessners Iraq deployment was pretty awful. The film, however, looks great.

Starring Nicholas Hoult who youll probably recognize as the pasty, bald lunatic Nux from Mad Max: Fury Road Sand Castle is set in 2003 on the outskirts of Baqubah, a city about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad that saw heavy fighting between American soldiers and insurgents during the occupation.

Hoult plays Pvt. Matt Ocre, who clearly doesnt want to be in Iraq. His mission may sound familiar to anyone whos deployed in the last 16 years: Win the hearts and minds of the locals. Meanwhile, some of the locals have a mission of their own, which will also sound familiar to anyone whos deployed in the last 16 years: Kill the Americans. All hell breaks loose.

If the last line of the trailer is any indicator of how Sand Castle is supposed to make you feel about the war in Iraq which, lest we forget, is still being fought I think its safe to say that this is not the sort of war film thats meant to inspire viewers to rush to their nearest Army recruiting station. Check it out:

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Watch The Trailer For A New Iraq War Film Written By An Actual Iraq War Veteran - Task & Purpose