ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US anti-ISIS coalition special envoy, retired Marine General John Allen, will be in Erbil Friday to meet with Peshmerga commanders and Kurdistan region President Masoud Barzani.
Former Peshmerga Minister Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa, who will also attend the meeting, told Rudaw Allen will hold discussions with a number of Peshmerga commanders over recent developments against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Allen, who was appointed to his position by US President Barack Obama last year after ISIS gained ground in Iraq and Syria, is expected to step down later in November for personal reasons, according to US officials.
Allen’s visit to the Kurdistan region comes amid further escalation of violence in Syria, with Russia and Iran actively targeting anti-government forces in the country.
Meanwhile, the first joint intelligence meeting among Iraq, Syria, Iran and Russia on countering ISIS took place Tuesday in Baghdad, but without any Kurdish leader taking part, according to a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament.
The meeting preceded news that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards announced Thursday they had lost a top commander in clashes around Aleppo in northeast Syria.
Major General Hussein Hamadani was killed in clashes with ISIS militants in the area, according to Iranian officials. Hamadani was in Syria to coordinate attacks on ISIS positions, they added.
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