President Barzani, US ambassador discuss protecting military, diplomatic missions

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and US Ambassador to Iraq Alina L. Romanowski on Wednesday discussed the importance of protecting the foreign diplomatic and military missions across Iraq amid frequent attacks on the coalition forces against ISIS. 

President Barzani received the US envoy to Iraq along with her delegation, including US Consul General Erbil Mark Stroh.

Stressing the maintaining cooperation and the strengthening of ties, Barzani and Romanowski reiterated the importance of protecting the security and safety of the US-led coalition forces against ISIS and diplomatic missions across Iraq, according to a statement from the Kurdistan Region Presidency.

The officials also stressed enhancing the Iraq-Kurdistan Region ties with the US as part of the Baghdad-Washington Strategic Framework Agreement, according to the readout.

The latest developments in the Kurdistan Region were also discussed.

The discussion comes as the US forces have come under at least 14 attacks since Oct. 17 in Iraq that have been blamed on the Iran-backed militia groups. Most of the drone and rocket attacks were shot down and a few had caused minor injuries among the forces.

Since the outbreak of Hamas-Israel fighting on Oct. 7, the US forces have been set on high alert in the Middle East, to which the country has already dispatched at least two carrier strike groups, fighter jets, and air-defense batteries to deter further escalation that is feared to erupt as a result the ongoing bloody fight in Gaza.

The Coalition is an 80-plus member alliance, including Western nations and security consortiums, that was formed in Sept. 2014 to defeat the ISIS militants who controlled vast swathes of areas after a lightning offensive in Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi Armed Forces and Kurdistan Region Peshmerga are members of the Coalition, along with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).