Top Iraqi security delegation arrives in Erbil

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A senior Iraqi military delegation arrived in the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil on Wednesday to discuss security cooperation, according to a statement. 

The Iraqi delegation is headed by the Joint Operations Command Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Hamid Abdul-Maqsoud. 

They were received by the Peshmerga forces’ Chief of Staff Issa Ozer and other Kurdish security officials. 

The visit is to discuss the security situation in areas of “mutual concern” and share security intelligence on ISIS. 

Iraqi and Kurdish military officials have had frequent meetings in recent weeks.

In early July, a delegation from the Peshmerga forces visited Makhmour district, a disputed area between Erbil and Baghdad, to meet their Iraqi counterparts and jointly review the security situation in the area. 

In late June, a security delegation headed by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense Chief of Staff Abd Al Amir Rashid Yarallah visited Erbil and met with the Kurdistan Region’s top political and security officials, including President Nechirvan Barzani and Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. 

President Barzani recently reiterated that ISIS still poses a “real threat” to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region during a meeting with US Senator Lindsey Graham, who recently visited Erbil. 

Kurdish officials have repeatedly stressed that security cooperation between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army, including joint brigades, is essential for combating ISIS remnants and preventing an ISIS resurgence in Iraq.