On Saturday, a high-level PUK delegation led by President Bafel Jalal Talabani visited the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region.

Bafel Jalal Talabani, President of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was greeted by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani on Saturday.

The meeting, attended by Dr. Khasraw Gul, Darbaz Kosrat Rasul, and Rizgar Ali, PUK politburo executives, stressed the importance of supporting the Kurdistan Regional Government, and its reform agenda to further serve the citizens. In the meeting, solving the region’s problems was discussed.

President Bafel Jalal Talabani confirmed his support for the Kurdistan Regional Government. 

The final results of the demand survey, conducted by the Ministry of Electricity in the governorates and autonomous administrations of the Kurdistan region, determine the share of electricity for the regions, Sulaimani, Halabja, Garmian, and Raperin will be given 31.78 percent electricity. Meanwhile, Erbil and Duhok will receive 68.18% of electricity, compared to the previous 66 percent.

Most electricity is produced in Sulaimani power plants. Still, the least electricity is supplied, while the governorate of Sulaimani has a population of almost 3.5 million, over half of the Kurdistan region's total population. 

Omid Ahmad, the spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, said that since 2015, there has been inequality in the distribution of electricity between the provinces since then, the Ministry of Electricity wants to reach an equal point for electricity distribution.

For example, in March this year, the number of electricity customers in Erbil was about 639,000, and in Duhok was 390,000. Both provinces shared 58% of the total subscribers, but 66% of the region's electricity was allocated to them. Meanwhile, there are 698,000 electricity customers in Sulaimani and 37,000 in Halabja, both provinces make up 42% of total electricity customers, and only 34% of electricity was allocated to them, which is a 16 percent reduction.

The problem of resource allocation between Sulaimani, Erbil, Duhok, and Halabja governorates in the Kurdistan region is a pressing issue where many are left without proper power and energy due to unequal distribution of resources from Erbil.

According to a statement issued by the Erbil governor's office, 50 gas stations have been punished in the past nine days. Legal action was taken against 42 gas stations in May.

"We assure the citizens of our city that the inspection teams and committees monitoring gas stations would continue to take necessary legal action against gas station owners selling bad gasoline to citizens and modify the quality of gasoline," the governor's office said. 

He called on citizens to inform the Erbil Governor's Office as soon as possible if they come across any violations in gas stations, whether it is the sale of lousy gasoline or quality change.

"We would like to inform gas stations owners that we will publish the names and locations of the punished gas stations," the statement said.

Since 2020, energy prices have increased to record high levels. In 2020, the cost of Muhasan or midgrade gasoline, a gasoline with a 95 percent octane rate, doubled in two years. In 2020 it was sold at 600 Iraqi dinars per liter but is now sold at 1200 Iraqi dinars per liter. 

Last night the Kurdistan Region Security Council blamed the Iraqi Hezbollah militia for carrying out a drone attack against Erbil. The attack was carried out using a kamikaze drone that destroyed two vehicles on Erbil Pirmam Road. 

Top Mossad assassination commander killed, Iranian media reported. It is not the first time that Iran claims to have targeted Mossad agents in the KDP-controlled Erbil.

Erbil has been attacked numerous times since 2020, especially after the assassination of top Iranian foreign general Qassem Soleimani, on January 3, 2020. The Capital of Iraqi Kurdistan has been hit by Katyusha rockets and drones in the past two years, usually by pro-Iranian Iraqi militia. However, the recent attacks are distinguished by their audacity, targeting residential areas and public roads.

On March 13, the Islamic Republic of Iran fired 12 ballistic missiles at Erbil, demolishing a villa owned by a Kurdish oil tycoon. Iranian state media said Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps attacked Israeli "strategic centers" in Erbil, suggesting it was revenge for recent Israeli air strikes that killed Iranian military personnel in Syria. 

The two IRGC members slain in the Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, were identified as Col. Ehsan Karbalaipur and Col. Morteza Saeednejad. Iranian media claimed that Israeli agents operated in the villa. 

The recent attack came weeks after assassinating IRGC colonel Hassan Sayad Khodayari, who has been the highest-profile killing of an Iranian official since the murder of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020, in an operation that involved robots, where Israel was blamed for the incident. 

Assailants assassinated Khodayari on motorcycles near was assassinated steps from his home on Tehran's Mohahedin-e Eslam Street. Israeli television channel Kani quoted a security source saying that Tehran was chosen as the center of the attack to ensure that no target could escape Israeli hands. 

Earlier Times of Israel reported that several Israeli intelligence officers in Urmia, East Kurdistan, obtained a confession from a man who intended to carry out several terrorist acts in Turkey and Europe. The man took orders from Khodayari. 

In the Erbil attack, Iran claims to have killed Ilak Ron, believed to be at the top of Israel's assassination unit, known as Kidon. It is possible that Ron is the man who interrogated the Iranian intelligence agent in Urumia. 

Iranian Radio Farda quoted Israeli Wi-Net, saying that the Israeli intelligence agency was aware of Khodayari's plots and had already foiled them. Several terrorist acts against Israelis were planned in Cyprus, Latin America, Africa, and Turkey.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Monday he knew who was involved in the killing and would take revenge soon. The recent attack blamed on pro-Iranian Iraqi militia was an answer to Raisi's calling. 

Although Tehran backs forces in proximity to Israel, such as Hamas, the confrontation between Israel and Iran seems to have shifted from the levant into Iraqi Kurdistan. Iraqi Kurdistan is currently under immense financial and political pressure, both within and without. 

Since 2017 Iran-backed militia have been stationed only kilometers away from Erbil city center. After the failed 2017 independence referendum, the Kurdistan regional government lost 51 percent of the territory it controlled to the Iraqi militia. 

Erbil is home to many Iraqi dissidents and some people who support Israel. An Erbil-based man runs a Facebook page named Levi in Erbil. On September 24, 2021, the first-ever conference for normalization with Israel was held in Erbil.

The Erbil Conference hosted more than 300 Iraqi delegates from all across Iraq, including tribal and religious leaders, who called for the normalization of ties between Baghdad and Tel Aviv following the examples of Bahrain, Morocco, the UAE, and Sudan in 2020.

However, reactions against the conference varied. Muqtada Sadr called for arresting the participants and condemned the meeting.

Shortly after IRGC's ballistic missile attack on Erbil on May 26, the Iraqi council of representatives passed a law criminalizing all relations with Israel and the death penalty for anyone who made such efforts.
 
Israel and Iran have come toe to toe in Erbil. Mossad and Iran's ministry of intelligence are directly engaged, slaying each others' agents and spies. As the prospect of a renewed Iranian nuclear deal with the west is small, the struggle might only intensify. 

Three rockets were fired at a Turkish military base in Bashiqa, one missile exploded inside the military base, and two fell outside the base.

The rockets were fired at the military base in the Shalalat area near Mosul.

Since evening, 13 rockets have flown towards the Turkish military outpost, KurdSat News correspondent reported. 

Agriculture ministry spokesperson Hussein Hama Karim said that the wheat production in the Kurdistan Region is expected to drop from 774 thousand tons to 300 to 400 thousand tons this year.

He added that "the problem of water shortage is not only in above ground water, but also groundwater has declined, the southern areas of Erbil, that is Makhmur, Dibga, Gower and Garmian, especially Kalar and Kufri, are most vulnerable to desertification.”

"These cities and towns are at the risk of desertification, and work should be done to increase vegetation," Karim noted.

The Kurdistan region has been facing consecutive droughts since 2020. It threatens the regions’ ability to guarantee its food security. The region needs one million tons of wheat to feed its people, while it only produced 774 thousand tons in 2021, and is expected to produce 400 thousand tons for this year’s harvest.

Iraq and the Kurdistan region import most of their wheat needs from Ukraine and Russia, the war in Ukraine has increased the price of wheat and Kyiv’s ability to deliver its wheat to Iraq.

A 22-year-old girl was admitted to Gulan Hospital on November 6 after showing symptoms of the Congo fever, her blood test was sent to Baghdad, and her results came back positive, the health directorate of Akre announced that her condition is stable, but needs care.

Salih Mustafa, director of Akre health directory said that they are ready for any other case of the fever and have prepared a special department in the hospital for would be patients of the Congo fever.

This is the third case of the fever in the Kurdistan Region. One case was reported in Zakho and one in Erbil, both have recovered since.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced that the federal court has no constitutional authority and assured that they would continue working with KRG oil and gas law which legally allows the region to sell and export its energy. 

The statement comes after a court ruling from Baghdad urging the KRG to hand over the region’s energy sector. Kurdistan region’s supreme court called the region’s energy governance constitutional, and KRG PM Masrour Barzani said they would not abide by the court’s decision. 

According to Article 112 of the Iraqi constitution, Baghdad has full sovereignty over the resources within its jurisdiction and shall distribute its revenues fairly to Iraqis. 

The Kurdistan region’s main source of income is oil and gas, and Baghdad’s decision would deprive the region of most of its revenue. 

June 1 marks the 47th founding anniversary the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the 46th anniversary of the modern Kurdish revolution. The founders of the PUK, most notably Jalal Talabani, gave hope to the Kurdish people in the mid-1970s when Kurds had given up on all hope after the abandonment of the Kurdish revolution in 1975. 

PUK ignited hope in the hearts of the oppressed Kurds, and a new revolution led by the PUK began with ripple effects across the Middle East. 

People from all of the Kurdistan region celebrated the 47th anniversary. They hoped that the party better serve its people. 

PUK affiliates visited Mam Jalal’s tomb in Sulaimani, the former general secretary of the PUK. They hoped that his legacy would be lived on as he championed freedom of expression, economic development, good governance and security for the Kurdish people.

The PUK forum preceded the occasion that lasted lasted six months, where members of the PUK, both senior and junior, participated in the various committees dedicated to device better policies for the PUK. The forum is revolutionary in Kurdish politics. It serves as a bottom-up approach to policymaking and plural decision making, in a region where policymaking circle is tight. 

The occasion was warmly greeted by PUK affiliates and ordinary people. They hoped for the event to end the domestic rivalry between the Kurdish parties of the Kurdistan region.

In 1975, founding members of the PUK met in Syria’s Damascus to declare PUK's founding. Jalal Talabani, its first secretary, and six others founding members declared PUK's founding first in Damascus, and later Germany on June 1, 1975. The PUK started as an umbrella organization and later reorganized many organizations in the Kurdistan region that struggled for Kurdish rights in Iraq in the early 1970s and 1980s. During its 15 years of armed struggle, it liberated many areas of the Kurdistan region from Saddam Hussein’s tyranny. Eventually, it led to a successful uprising that removed Baathist authority from the Kurdistan region. 

The PUK works to promote democracy, human rights, and self-determination. It is also a member of the Socialist International. It has spearheaded democratic reform and good governance in the Kurdistan region.  

The Bill initially named "Banning Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity" was changed to "Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity." in today's assembly meeting. 

The Bill was passed unanimously, with all attending 275 members of the parliament. 

 "We affirm that this law, which the voters unanimously voted, represents a true reflection of the people's will, a brave national decision, and a position that is the first of its kind in the world in terms of criminalizing the relationship with the Zionist entity. Therefore, we call on the Arab and Islamic parliaments to issue similar legislation that meets the aspirations of their peoples," the parliament said in a statement on Thursday.

The Bill criminalizes the normalization of relations with the "Zionist entity," a reference to Israel, and the "banning of the establishment of diplomatic, political, military, economic, and cultural relations and any other sort of relations with the invading Zionist entity."

 The normalization of ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords is a US-led joint Middle East peace initiative. The United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Bahrain, and Morocco - have announced normalization agreements with Israel, with America's support. A conference in September advocating for Iraq to join the deal was met with widespread condemnation and criticism from the public and officials.

Muqtada Sadr, Iraq's popular clergy and one of the figures sponsoring the Bill, released a statement praising God and calling on the Iraqi people to celebrate this "great achievement."

 The Bill will require all institutions, civilian or military, to eschew relations with Israel. Although Baghdad maintains close ties with the United States, the decision might be a hurdle to the US-led Middle East peace initiative, aiming to restore relations between predominantly Sunni states and the state of Israel. 

Earlier this year, a delegation from Baghdad had made various trips to Israel, followed by a workshop in Erbil, which called for the normalization of ties between Israel and Iraq. They were rebuked by various Iraqi leaders and called for the participants to be put behind bars. 

Bafel Jalal Talabani received Mark Bryson Richardson, British Ambassador to Iraq, at the PUK Political Bureau in Erbil.

The meeting, attended by David Hunt, British Consul General in Erbil discussed political, economic and security developments in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

Bafel Jalal Talabani told the ambassador, ‘We have always believed in unity and solidarity among all political forces and parties, because we consider it a factor of peace and stability in the region.’

‘Everyone knows that we are in favor of resolving the issues on the basis of the constitution and forming a good government that reflects the wishes of all,’ Talabani added.

Bafel Jalal Talabani congratulated Queen Elizabeth on her birthday and wished her long life to continue serving her country.

Today, at the graduation ceremony of the Zakho Military College, the Kurdistan Region president Nechirvan Barzani, said that the threat of ISIS still remains, and its attacks have increased, especially in the disputed territories between the Iraqi and the Peshmerga forces. The area serves as a base for the terrorists, the president told the attendants, and called for the immediate deployment of two joint brigades of the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces.

He urged the international coalition against IS and the Iraqi federal government to provide more assistance and training to the Peshmerga, and deliver equipment and advanced weapons, because now the support of the Peshmerga is more necessary than ever, the president argued.

Regarding the interference in the affairs of Peshmerga forces, Nechirvan Barzani said that party interference in the Peshmerga forces must end, because meddling makes the Peshmerga forces constantly threatened during party and political conflicts, a serious threat to the democratic process.

Kurdistan Region president as the commander-in-chief of the Peshmerga forces reaffirmed his support for the efforts of the Peshmerga Ministry to unite the Peshmerga forces divided between PUK-led 70 forces and KDP-led 80 forces.

Earlier this week, the president attended graduation ceremony of peshmerga officers at Qalachwalan Military Academy in Sulaimani, raising similar concerns about constant threats on the existence of the Kurdistan Region.

On Thursday evening, Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles hit a group of picnickers in the Duhok province's Zewasary Nerway resort, killing two children, aged 10 and 13, and injuring one. In footage published by KurdSat English, the picnickers are seen fleeing and screaming as the drones continue the bombarding the area.

I was with my children picnicking as the bombs fell, KurdSat News correspondent reported. Turkey maintains an airstrip 30 kilometers from the area where the bombs fell. It houses 50 tanks and tens of troops. 

Counter-terrorism of Kurdistan, a KDP group, released a statement blaming the PKK for the attack. 'as a result of an attack by the PKK terrorists two people martyred and two injured,' the statement ran. It called the group terrorist, a term shared by Turkey to describe the group. 

Turkey's use of drones in the Kurdistan Region has killed many civilians. According to Kamaran Osman, a member of Community Peacemaker Teams in the Kurdistan region, since 2015, 111 civilians in the region have been killed due to the Turkish strikes. 

On Tuesday, May 24, the Bureau of Democratic Organizations of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) received a Swedish Social Democratic Party (SDP) delegation in Sulaimani. The social democrats announced working on environmental issues and promoting organizational work in several fields.

A workshop was held between the bureau and a delegation of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and Olof Palme International Center, and civil society organizations in Sulaimani. With PUK youth, activists and party cadre, various issues were tackled.

The workshop discussed closer cooperation between civil society organizations in Kurdistan and Sweden. PUK is pleased to learn from the Swedish party experience and organization. 

The PUK was founded in 1975, adopted socialism in 1992 and has since promoted democracy, human rights and self-determination. The party collaborates with various socialist parties around the world. It is a member of Socialist International, with Jalal Talabani, PUK’s first general secretary, serving as the deputy general secretary of the organization until 2017.

The necessary services and health agencies will be open while the holiday applies to the rest of civilian institutions, the administration added.

"We ask the citizens of Garmian to stay in their homes until the end of dust waves, to protect their health," a statement issued by adminstration said. 

Since 2022, Iraq has been experiencing frequent severe dust storms that impede normal life and fill hospitals with pneumonia-related diseases. 

Yesterday, most Iraqi institutions declared a holiday as it forecasted a severe dust storm. Still, the Kurdistan region maintained normal work as dust storms partially sweep across the region.

Garmian is one of the regions in Iraq most vulnerable to climate change. Garmian shares a long border with Iraqi deserts to the west and the south, where most sandstorms are formed. Earlier the administration declared draught, and demanded an urgent fund to fight the draught. 

He added that more than 2 million registered vehicles in the region, with 100,000 vehicles being registered annually. There is one vehicle owner for every six people, which is less than the global standard. 

Approximately more than 16 percent of the region owns a vehicle or more. 

The spokesperson noted, "In 2021, 4,119 traffic accidents were recorded in the Kurdistan Region, with a death toll of 622 people."

The Kurdistan region’s primary and usually only way of transport is a private vehicle. The region lacks a railway or a subway system with poorly organized taxis.