‘Ultimate goal of targeting Kurdistan Region’s energy is to bring the Region to its knees’: Hoshyar Zebari

Dler S. Mohammed 2022/06/25 21:27

KDP Politburo member and former Iraq's foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Iraq Hoshyar Zebari Kurdistan Region Dana Gas Khor Mor plant Kurdistan Region energy sector

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The ultimate goal of attacking the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas facilities is to bring the region to its knees and put it under control of the militias in Baghdad, said Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Politburo member Hoshyar Zebari on Friday.

“The missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas facilities in Erbil and Sulaimani confirm that militia forces in Baghdad do not differentiate between the two governorates,” Zebari tweeted. “The ultimate goal is to bring the Kurdistan Region to its knees.”

Attacks on Kurdistan Region’s energy sector have increased dramatically in the past few weeks and months. Oil and gas fields have been targeted by rockets and drones multiple times by Iraqi militias loyal to Iran.

Dana Gas’ Khor Mor Field, in the Kurdistan Region’s district of Chamchamal, close to Sulaimani, came under rocket fire for the third time in a week on Saturday, a local official informed Kurdistan 24.

Recently, authorities in the Kurdish autonomous region rejected a decision by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruling that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) oil and gas law is unconstitutional.

Militia leaders and other Iran-backed Shiite political party members often threaten to use force to bring the KRG oil and gas sector back under the central government in Baghdad.

However, after each attack on the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdish leadership has repeatedly affirmed that these "cowardly" attacks will not force Kurds to surrender or give up their values and principles.

"If someone believes that they can impose their will on us by force and arms, that is impossible," Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani said last week. "Others have already tried and did not succeed."

"The Kurdistan Region was built with the blood of the martyrs, and we will protect it with blood," he stated. "War is destruction; we hope that there will be no war, but surrendering is worse than war."

The KDP President stressed that "if the constitution is the rule of law, we welcome it, but if they want to seize the powers of the region [Kurdistan Region] once again, that is not acceptable."