ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto arrived in Erbil on Saturday evening and was met at the airport by Peshmerga Minister Shoresh Ismail.
The minister will visit Italian troops stationed in the Kurdistan Region as part of the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS), military advisors, and the Italian consulate in Erbil before holding several meetings with senior Kurdish officials, according to the Peshmerga ministry.
He traveled to Erbil from Baghdad, where he met with his Iraqi counterpart Thabet al-Abbasi earlier in the day.
The two discussed several topics, including ways to enhance cooperation between Iraq and Italy.
His visit to Iraq coincides with recent developments in neighboring Syria, where rebel groups backed by Turkey toppled the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, on December 8 after a lightning-quick offensive.
ISIS militants took advantage of the upheaval in Syria to seize control of some territory in central desert areas.
Italy is a member of the global anti-ISIS coalition, formed in 2014 when the jihadists seized swathes of land in Iraq and Syria. The NATO member is actively engaged in supporting and training Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga.
European Union member states are worried that regional tensions could affect the fragile stability Iraq has been enjoying since the defeat of ISIS in 2017.
Earlier this month German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and expressed Germany's continued support for Iraq’s security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga in combating ISIS.
Despite being territorially defeated, ISIS still poses a great security risk to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
Rekar Azizi contributed to this report
