The Iraqi government will deploy additional troops on its Turkish border to strengthen its territorial integrity against Turkey’s military attacks, Rudaw English said.
Iraq’s National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, agreed to “develop a plan to redeploy the Iraqi border forces to hold the zero line along the borders with Iran and Turkey,” Rudaw said citing Iraqi state media on Wednesday.
Turkey on late Saturday has launched an aerial offensive into Northern Iraq and Syria targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliate Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in response to a bomb attack that rocked Istanbul, killing six people on Nov.13. Accusing PKK and YPG over the attack, Ankara has been since conducting airstrikes targeting PKK and YPG bases in the region. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said the aerial campaign is just the beginning and Turkey will also launch a ground operation when convenient.
Iran on the other hand, has recently increased its cross-border operations into Northern Iraq, targeting Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups.
The Iraqi government also decided to act in cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “unify the national effort to protect the Iraqi borders.”
On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani met with Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the KRG in Baghdad, pointing out the importance of cooperation against violations on Iraq’s sovereignty, Rudaw said.
Al-Sudani and Barzani “Emphasized cooperation to protect Iraq’s sovereignty, reject repeated violations, and work to prevent using Iraqi territory as a platform for attacking any neighboring country,” a joint statement issued after the meeting read.
Source: Gerçek News
