Senior Iraqi security delegation to visit Erbil

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A top Iraqi security delegation headed by National Security Advisor Qassim Al-Araji is set t to visit Erbil on Monday to follow up on the security agreement inked by Baghdad and Tehran. 

The delegation is expected to meet with top Kurdistan Region officials during their stay.

The Iran-Iraq security agreement, intended to move the armed Kurdish opposition groups away from the border, is currently being implemented.

The Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Fuad Hussein has previously announced that the Kurdistan Region had taken necessary steps to remove the forces from the border areas.

“Our constitution doesn’t allow any non-Iraqi or even Iraqi group or party to use the Iraqi territories to attack neighboring countries,” Hussein told reporters in early September. 

Tehran and Ankara have previously bombarded and launched military operations against Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq.

READ MORE: Iran warns resuming attacks if opposition groups remain armed in Iraq

Should the Iraqi government fail to move the forces away from the border by Sept. 19, Tehran has forewarned it would resume its drone and artillery shelling against the suspected positions of the Kurdish forces inside the Kurdistan Region, which had witnessed rounds of attacks last year.

While Kurdish leadership has condemned drone attacks from its neighbors on its soil, the Region’s officials have empathized with the security concerns of its neighbors and have said on numerous occasions that they would not allow Iraq’s semiautonomous region to pose a threat to its neighboring countries.

READ MORE: PM Barzani condemns ‘violations’ of Kurdish, Iraqi sovereignty after Iranian missile, drone attacks