ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Sunday met with Paris’s top representative to the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) to discuss the ongoing "terrorist" threat in the region and the coalition’s role in Iraq. The meeting comes shortly after Rudaw learned recently that the international coalition has relocated all its forces to the Region.
The Kurdistan Region Presidency said in a statement that President Barzani received Brigadier General Francois Tricot, Paris’s Representative to the Global Coalition, to discuss “France’s relations with both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, the current situation in these areas, the ongoing threat of terrorism - particularly from ISIS - and the role of the international coalition in Iraq.”
The top officials “underscored the importance of continued collaboration and coordination” between Paris, Erbil, and Baghdad “as part of the Global Coalition’s efforts to combat terrorism and maintain peace and stability in the region.”
President Barzani “conveyed the Kurdistan Region’s appreciation for France’s ongoing support” to both Erbil and Baghdad, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Brigadier General Tricot and his delegation were cited as “reaffirming their nation’s commitment to continue supporting the Kurdistan Region and the [Kurdish] Peshmerga forces.”
The meeting also addressed the evolving “situation in Syria, broader regional developments, and other topics of mutual interest,” the statement concluded.
France has played a critical role in supporting Kurdish and Iraqi forces since the war against ISIS began in Iraq in 2014.
The recent visit comes in the wake of an attack in Tadmur (Palmyra), located in Syria’s central Homs province on Saturday. The assault killed two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter and injured three other American soldiers along with two Syrian security personnel, according to the Pentagon and Syrian state media.
Although ISIS did not officially claim responsibility, Syrian interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba told the state-run al-Ikhbariya TV on Saturday that a December 10 assessment of the attacker suggested he may have had extremist affiliations.
US President Donald Trump vowed “very serious retaliation” against those responsible.
The incident underscored the ongoing threat posed by extremist groups in Syria.
The meeting between President Barzani and Brigadier General Tricot also comes as Rudaw learned in late November that the Global Coalition has effectively concluded its mission in federal Iraq, relocating all its forces to the Kurdistan Region.
Lieutenant General Qais al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Commander of Iraq’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) - which answers back to the Iraqi premier - told Rudaw that only “four to five personnel” from the Global Coalition remain in Baghdad to handle logistical and diplomatic duties.
“All Global Coalition forces are now in the Kurdistan Region,” Muhammadawi confirmed.
