The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani, revealed that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) occupies 515 villages in northern the country, calling on PKK to leave the territory of the region.

According to a statement released by KDP, the PKK occupies 304 in Dhok province, 177 in Erbil and 34 villages in the province of Sulaymaniyah (northern Iraq), noting that the organization does not allow the return of the residents of these villages to their homes.

The statement said that the government of the territory is not able to deliver services to the occupied villages.

On the other hand, the Joint Iraqi forces launched, Thursday evening, a surprise attack on the elements of ISIS organization in eastern Samarra, Salahuddin province. A security source told Arabs Today that a surprise attack launched by the security forces, with the participation of the Peace Brigades, one of the formations of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), on Thursday night, targeting six headquarters of the extremist elements in the area.

The member in Anbar provincial council, Fahad Al-Rashed, stressed, in a press statement, that the process of liberalization west of the province will be through the security forces, and the role of coalition forces, including the US military bases there, are limited to provide air cover and the training of security forces on modern weapons only.

Al-Rashed denied the news circulating about the participation of US ground troops in this battle, adding that the military units stationed in the areas under the control of the security forces, west of the province, are able to liberate the occupied areas from ISIS.

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his country's support for Iraq, its territorial integrity and its safety as well as its war against extremism, when receiving credentials of the new ambassador to Baghdad in Moscow, Haidar Mansour Hadi, according to a statement of the Russian embassy in Iraq.

The embassy added that after receiving the credentials of Hadi, the President Putin gave a speech in which he expressed Russia's deep respect for national interests of all countries, and its history and vision of the current world order and does not divide its partners into senior and junior, confirming that his country is ready to launch a dialogue on equal terms to enhance the cooperation and the mutual respect with every state.

President Putin also pointed out in his speech to the existence of promising possibilities for the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation with Iraq in various fields, primarily in the field of energy, stressing Russia's support for Iraqi authorities in addressing international terrorism and extremism.

For his part, Hadi expressed his thanks to the Russian president on his country's support for Iraq and, informing him the greetings of Iraqi President Fuad Masum, the Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.