Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani (File)
2020-02-05
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SULAIMANI — Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has said that he hopes that US and coalition troops will remain in Iraq in order to combat Islamic State (ISIS), despite pressure from Iran on Iraqi lawmakers to force a withdrawal of foreign forces.
In a wide-ranging interview with France 24 released on Tuesday (February 4), Barzani was asked about the status of foreign troops following the assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in January.
“We do believe that their presence is still very much needed because ISIS is a major threat. It is not completely defeated. It is not eradicated. It can regroup and attack as they have in many different places,” Barzani said.
Following the killing of Soleimani, the Council of Representatives held a vote on a non-binding resolution asking the government to ask foreign troops to leave. The session was attended by mostly by Shia lawmakers and was boycotted by their Sunni and Kurdish counterparts, despite threats against them from an Iran-backed militia group.
In the interview Barzani criticized the decision as “rushed.”
“We hope that there will be a way to find a mechanism that both the Iraqi government and the coalition forces led by the United States can be satisfied,” Barzani said.
Later in the interview, he appeared to support a proposed plan by the US to deploy Patriot anti-ballistic missile systems to Iraq to protect against Iranian missile attacks, like the one on January 8 that targeted bases hosting US and coalition forces in Anbar and Erbil in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing.
However, he also acknowledged that the Kurdistan Region was in a tight spot between Iran and the US.
“We have tried our best to stay out of this confrontation,” Barzani said. “Iran is our neighbor. The United States is our friend. And we don’t want to escalate or see the escalation of this confrontation or tension.”
“We think that everybody has to play a role to deescalate and also try to contribute to the stability in the region and that’s what we’ve done.”
(NRT Digital Media)