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Tensions between Kurdish forces, above, and Iraq's army have stoked fear just as years of Shiite-Sunni violence wane.

JALAWLA, Iraq -- Kurdish leaders have expanded their authority over a roughly 300-mile-long swath of territory beyond the borders of their autonomous region in northern Iraq, stationing thousands of soldiers in ethnically mixed areas in what Iraqi Arabs see as an encroachment on their homelands.

Tensions between Kurdish forces, above, and Iraq's army have stoked fear just as years of Shiite-Sunni violence wane. (By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)
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The assertion of greater Kurdish control, which has taken hold gradually since the war began and caused tens of thousands of Arabs to flee their homes, is viewed by Iraqi Arab and U.S. officials as a provocative and potentially destabilizing action.

"Quickly moving into those areas to try and change the population and flying KRG flags in areas that are specifically not under the KRG control right now -- that is counterproductive and increases tensions,"