KIRKUK, Iraq — Kamel Ali Abbas, a Kurd, joined the Iraqi army in 2004, when it was being rebuilt following the US-led invasion. An artillery sergeant and a Kirkuk native, Abbas took part in the battle for Mosul in 2016-17, fighting with his fellow soldiers, allied militias of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) alongside other Kurds in the peshmerga against the Islamic State (IS). Now the army and the PMU are fighting the peshmerga.
“The PMU were coming in with the sound of bombardments,” Abbas, using a pseudonym for his protection, told Al-Monitor via WhatsApp call while explaining why he moved his family from Kirkuk to Erbil for their safety at the start of clashes between Iraqi and Kurdish forces, which began Oct. 16. “Had it not been for my children, I would have stayed as a soldier. But for them I had to leave."
