Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani (right) and Patrick Durrell, Advisor to the French President on Middle East and North African Affairs (left) meeting in Erbil on October 4, 2023. Photo: Office of the President
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron met on Wednesday to discuss bilateral ties and France’s ongoing commitment to aid Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Barzani and Macron’s Middle East and North African Affairs Advisor Patrick Durrell discussed “the importance of France’s ties with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and pointed to France’s role an active participation in the international coalition against ISIS, as well as the necessity and importance of the French Government’s support for Iraq at this stage,” said a statement from Barzani’s office.
A core member of the US-led global coalition against ISIS, France has trained about 10,000 Iraqi soldiers, including Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The country’s armed forces continue to play a key role in the anti-ISIS fight through Operation Chammal.
In August, three French soldiers were killed in Iraq in separate occasions as part of the operation.
ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Iraqi land in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017. Despite the group’s lack of territorial control, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions in the country, particularly in areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad.
During a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minsiter Fuad Hussein on Wednesday, Durrell said that French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is expected to visit Iraq at the end of October.
Barzani and Macron’s Middle East and North African Affairs Advisor Patrick Durrell discussed “the importance of France’s ties with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and pointed to France’s role an active participation in the international coalition against ISIS, as well as the necessity and importance of the French Government’s support for Iraq at this stage,” said a statement from Barzani’s office.
A core member of the US-led global coalition against ISIS, France has trained about 10,000 Iraqi soldiers, including Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The country’s armed forces continue to play a key role in the anti-ISIS fight through Operation Chammal.
In August, three French soldiers were killed in Iraq in separate occasions as part of the operation.
ISIS seized control of vast swathes of Iraqi land in 2014 but it was declared territorially defeated in 2017. Despite the group’s lack of territorial control, it still continues to pose serious security risks through bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions in the country, particularly in areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad.
During a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minsiter Fuad Hussein on Wednesday, Durrell said that French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is expected to visit Iraq at the end of October.
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