Kurdish militants reportedly have withdrawn from Iraq’s Yazidi region of Sinjar after several years, leading to speculation about the timing and reasons behind the decision. Experts are questioning whether the move will be enough to stop Turkey from intervening in the region militarily, despite a warning from Baghdad.

Iraq said today it had deployed troops over the weekend and now controls the area. Baghdad has warned Turkey that it won't accept a Turkish military operation within Iraq's borders.

Yet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said March 26 he was ready to begin an offensive in the Sinjar mountain area bordering Syria if Iraq doesn't thoroughly rid the region of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. The PKK's presence there has been a point of contention between Iraq and Turkey since the militant group took control of the region from the Islamic State (IS) in 2015. Erdogan has listed Sinjar as one of Turkey’s “next targets” following Ankara's offensive on the northern Syrian city of Afrin.

Erdogan had made a statement to Iraq as he spoke March 21 at a ceremony in Ankara: "If you can’t solve that [PKK] problem, one night we can arrive in Sinjar suddenly without telling anyone."