Barzani discusses liberation of Mosul with Iraqi National Security Adviser

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) - The President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani, met with Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi's national security adviser Falah Fayadh on Tuesday in an undisclosed location "close to war frontlines" according to a press release on the Kurdish presidency website.

The war against the Islamic State group, Iraqi State's relations with its neighbours and, specifically, the recent Turkish military deployment in the northern Nineveh province were on the agenda in the meeting that was also attended by the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, Masrour Barzani and other top Kurdish officials.

President Barzani and Iraqi PM's National Security Adviser Falah Fayadh agreed, the release read, on the need for dialogue to solve the tensions between the Iraqi and Turkish governments following the Turkish deployment on the Iraqi territory. The statement, published in Kurdish, also stated that it was the second meeting between Barzani and the Iraqi official.

Barzani and Fayadh also talked about the pressing need to retake Mosul from the reign of the Islamist militants who control the city since June 2014, when a withdrawing Iraqi Army left it to an Islamic State assault. The sides reiterated "the importance of peoples' participation" in the decision-making processes regarding the administration and politics of the areas liberated from the Islamic State group, the press release further said.

Fayadh conveyed Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi's congratulations to President Barzani on the Peshmerga Forces' November victory in the Yazidi Kurdish town of Shingal (Sinjar) against the IS group.

The presidency website also stated that both sides expressed the need to continue dialogue and meetings between Kurdish and Iraqi government officials to find solutions to the problems between Erbil and Baghdad, without specifying them.