150 Dutch soldiers deployed to Kurdistan Region

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Netherlands deployed 150 soldiers to the Kurdistan Region on Monday to secure Erbil International Airport as part of the coalition’s ongoing support to the Region in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS), the Dutch Ambassador to Iraq said on Monday.

“150 Dutch soldiers, they have come here to help protect the airport, but of course it’s a part of a larger coalition of many countries together to fight Daesh (Arabic acronym for ISIS),” Dutch Ambassador to Iraq, Michel Rentenaar, told reporters on Monday during a visit to Erbil.

The length of their deployment is unclear, but the soldiers will stay for at least a year, he said.

“Obviously it’s depending on how long the fight will take,” he added.

The Netherlands in November said it had agreed to send up to 150 soldiers to the Kurdistan Region to secure Erbil International Airport, in a decision made by the Netherlands’ Council of Ministers.

Dutch forces have been providing training for Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi soldiers as a member of the Global Coalition that was formed in September 2014 after ISIS militants took control of large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria. Its 83 members work towards dismantling the militants’ ambitions and infrastructure.

Although ISIS was territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, it continues to carry out attacks across the country, especially in territory disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. 
 
The Netherlands is also part of the Kurdish Training Coordination Center (KTCC), part of the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), which has trained more than 45,000 Peshmerga since January 2015, according to a statement from  CJTF-OIR.

Rentenaar was also received by the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani on Monday, alongside the Dutch Consul-General in Erbil, Hans Akerboom, to discuss Amsterdam-Erbil ties as well as bilateral developments between the two parties, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement.

Retenaar reaffirmed “his country's readiness to further strengthen relations with the Kurdistan Region and stressed the importance of maintaining support and training to the Peshmerga forces in the fight against terrorism,” added the statement.

Barzani briefed the Netherlands on the Region’s reform process “particularly in the area of diversifying its economy and revenue sources, and developing its industrial and agricultural sectors,” said the KRG.

The Dutch ambassador also met with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on discussed the role of Netherlands in the fight against ISIS, the reform process in Iraq and the Region, improving Iraq’s and the Region’s economy, as well as journalism and freedom and expression.

Correction: A previous version of this article quoted a Kurdistan Regional Government official as saying that the Netherlands would be taking over the supervision of military activities at the base at Erbil International Airport from the United States. The Netherlands will not be leading supervision of the course, a spokesperson from the Dutch Consulate in Erbil told Rudaw on April 8, 2021; the piece has been corrected to reflect this.

Updated on April 8, 2021