KRSC responds to Syrian media terror accusations, call claims ‘ironic’

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) on Sunday rejected a report published by Syria’s state-run media falsely accused KRSC Chancellor Masrour Barzani of funding terrorist groups.

A day earlier, state-run SANA published an announcement by the Syrian government’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which listed hundreds of local and foreign individuals it claimed support terrorism in Syria. Among those on the list was Chancellor Barzani.

In a statement published on its official Facebook page, the KRSC said it is “ironic that a chauvinist, repressive, and hostile regime who is against the Kurds and has supported terrorists to ensure they remain in power is now talking about terrorism.”

“The Syrian regime used internationally banned weapons against its own people, spilling the blood of hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens, and abandoning millions to other countries,” it added, referring to instances in the past where Damascus was accused of using chemical weapons against civilians in Ghouta and Idlib.

The statement emphasized that the institutions under the supervision of the KRSC are part of the international coalition against terrorism. It also noted that the KRSC has successfully foiled many terror plots in the past and have detained dozens of suspects.

In October, the Kurdistan Region’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) released footage of a joint operation with coalition forces where they arrested a significant number of Islamic State (IS) financers. Stacks of money and weapons were confiscated during the operation.

“The Kurdistan Region Security Council and its Chancellor Masrour Barzani will always be against hostile and corrupt individuals and terrorists, and will continue in this manner until the end,” the statement concluded.