Germany resumes advisory mission in Iraq

The German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, resumed on Sunday their advisory mission in Iraq, which had been temporarily put on hold due to the situation around Kirkuk, according to an official statement on their website. The German armed forces have been operating in the north of Iraq since 2014, training and advising Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). But on 16 October, the mission was temporarily interrupted when troops from the central Iraqi government entered the disputed province of Kirkuk, which had been occupied by the Peshmerga since 2014. The incursion was ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who was reacting to a controversial referendum held by the Kurdish government on September 25 in which 93 percent voted for independence.