ERBIL – A Shiite, Iran-linked Coordination Framework (CF) delegation reportedly plans to visit the Kurdistan Region’s capital in the coming days to speak to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) after alleged attempts to divide the Sunni component of their rival alliance seem to have fallen short.
The KDP is currently allied with Sunni Arabs under Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi and popular Shiite "nationalist" cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
On Monday, Sunni Arab Parliament Speaker Halbousi and members of the Shiite Sadrist movement travelled to Erbil for talks on trying to form a government.
This comes after alleged attempts to weaken the Sunni front led by Halbousi, by inviting his rivals to Iraq.
Some in the CF seem to have hoped that backing a sheikh long known for being the source of many problems would lessen the strength of a young politician from the same province who currently holds the highest position a Sunni in the country can aspire to.
When the Islamic State (IS) started taking over swaths of Iraq in 2014, Sheikh Ali Hatem al-Suleiman of the large Dulaim tribe took refuge at his villa in this capital of the Kurdistan Region.
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