Munich Security Conference: ISIS poses ‘continued threat’ says PM Barzani

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), is heading to Germany on Thursday to take part in the Munich Security Conference (MSC), where he will urge international coordination to confront the ongoing Islamic State (ISIS) threat.

The annual conference, which first convened in 1963, is taking place in the Bavarian capital from February 14 to 16. International security policy makers will meet to exchange views on common threats and future challenges.

Barzani will use the 2020 conference to address the ongoing threat posed by ISIS remnants in Iraq and the wider region and highlight the central role the Kurds played in combating the group. 

“We will highlight the sacrifices the courageous Peshmerga soldiers have made in the fight against Daesh (ISIS) and terror,” Barzani said in a statement ahead of his trip.

“We will warn of the continued threat posed by Daesh and terror, which require increased coordination among the international community to confront their threats.”

Iraq’s disputed territories, which Erbil and Baghdad have long contested, and some western Sunni-majority regions including Anbar have seen a recent uptick in insurgent activities, including bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, extortion, and arson.

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) launched a new operation on Wednesday, targeting ISIS sleeper cells in areas bordering Syria and Jordan.  

On the same day, ISIS militants attacked a village in Khanaqin, Diyala province, killing a Peshmerga soldier, one civilian, and an Iraqi army officer, and wounded seven. 

Observers warn ISIS has enjoyed a resurgence in recent months, despite its shattering territorial defeats in northern Iraq in late 2017 and in eastern Syria in early 2019. The jihadists have exploited security gaps and regional instability to wage a new insurgency. 

In Munich, Barzani is expected to meet with world leaders and security experts to discuss “the current situation in Iraq and the greater region, as well as strengthen the Kurdistan Region’s relations with the international community”.

Barzani attended the Munich Security Conferences in 2019 when he was chief of the Kurdistan Region Security Council.

This year’s conference theme is “Westlessness”.

“The Munich Security Report 2020 sheds light on the phenomenon that it refers to as ‘Westlessness’ – a widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of increasing uncertainty about the enduring purpose of the West,” the conference website explains.

Western powers, particularly the United States under the Trump administration, appear to be disengaging from areas of the world where they have long maintained a strong military and diplomatic presence. 

In the Middle East in particular, the US has reduced its commitments in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, ceding regional influence to regime-backer Russia.