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Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq, President Nechirvan Barzani, Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani and other top officials meet in Erbil. Photo: KRG
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Region’s most senior leadership has urged parties involved in US-Iran tensions to conduct dialogue and prevent further escalation after Iran fired ballistic missiles at US targets in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday.
The call comes after a Wednesday morning meeting between the Kurdistan Region’s three presidencies – President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq – their deputies, and other officials.
The meeting, scheduled before Wednesday’s strikes by Iran, was initially set to discuss other developments in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, including a US airstrike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday.
Unsurprisingly, focus of the meeting turned after Iran fired close to two dozen missiles at targets in the Kurdistan Region and in Anbar – primarily the Ain al-Assad base, which houses US military personnel. No Iraqi or American casualties as a result of the strikes have yet been reported.
“The three presidencies express their deep concern due to events in the region escalating while the threat of terror grows, posing a real threat to the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the region,” a joint statement read following the meeting.
“Concerning the events of the past days, especially the developments of the dawn, the Kurdistan Region asserts that military methods in no way resolve issues,” the Kurdish leadership asserted.
“The Kurdistan Region is on the side of de-escalating the situation, dialogue, diplomatic resolution of issues, stability and peace,” added the leadership. “It calls on everyone to avoid dragging the Kurdistan Region in their rivalries.”
A fear that the Kurdistan Region is becoming caught up in a US-Iranian rivalry was also expressed by Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs Secretary General Jabbar Yawar earlier on Wednesday.
Member nations of the US-led Global Coalition against Islamic State have deliberated withdrawal of their troops from Iraq as tensions escalate.
Germany, Canada, Spain and Romania have all announced partial, temporary troop withdrawals from Iraq, though no pull out from the Kurdistan Region has been announced. France and the United States have said they will not withdraw their troops from the country.
Defeated territorially in Iraq in 2017 - partly due to uneasy US-Iran cooperation - ISIS has been regionally and internationally recognized as a resurging force in the country. The three presidencies urged the international community to “not let terror resurge.”
The call comes after a Wednesday morning meeting between the Kurdistan Region’s three presidencies – President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, and Parliament Speaker Rewaz Fayaq – their deputies, and other officials.
The meeting, scheduled before Wednesday’s strikes by Iran, was initially set to discuss other developments in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, including a US airstrike that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday.
Unsurprisingly, focus of the meeting turned after Iran fired close to two dozen missiles at targets in the Kurdistan Region and in Anbar – primarily the Ain al-Assad base, which houses US military personnel. No Iraqi or American casualties as a result of the strikes have yet been reported.
“The three presidencies express their deep concern due to events in the region escalating while the threat of terror grows, posing a real threat to the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the region,” a joint statement read following the meeting.
“Concerning the events of the past days, especially the developments of the dawn, the Kurdistan Region asserts that military methods in no way resolve issues,” the Kurdish leadership asserted.
“The Kurdistan Region is on the side of de-escalating the situation, dialogue, diplomatic resolution of issues, stability and peace,” added the leadership. “It calls on everyone to avoid dragging the Kurdistan Region in their rivalries.”
A fear that the Kurdistan Region is becoming caught up in a US-Iranian rivalry was also expressed by Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs Secretary General Jabbar Yawar earlier on Wednesday.
Member nations of the US-led Global Coalition against Islamic State have deliberated withdrawal of their troops from Iraq as tensions escalate.
Germany, Canada, Spain and Romania have all announced partial, temporary troop withdrawals from Iraq, though no pull out from the Kurdistan Region has been announced. France and the United States have said they will not withdraw their troops from the country.
Defeated territorially in Iraq in 2017 - partly due to uneasy US-Iran cooperation - ISIS has been regionally and internationally recognized as a resurging force in the country. The three presidencies urged the international community to “not let terror resurge.”
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