[12][13] Iraqi civil and military officials as well as regional experts, claim that the White Flags are a Kurdish nationalist or separatist faction which was founded in response to the Iraqi takeover of Kirkuk, with its members referring to themselves as "the Kurdish resistance".

[17] The group's leader Hiwa Chor, a one-eyed militant,[18] was a former member of al-Qaeda in Iraq but disagreed with their international Caliphate plans so he left the organization.

The group operates in and around Tuz Khurmatu and has launched frequent attacks on oil fields and routes in the area.

[5] The White Flags usually target establishments affiliated with Turkmen or Shia Arab political parties.

[19] Kurds generally believed that the Iraqi government had entirely fabricated the existence of the White Flags, or at least heavily exaggerated it.