Kurdistan Region president says Baghdad ‘not doing enough’ to stop militia attacks

Summary

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said that the Region has been targeted more than 600 times during the recent regional war, criticizing Baghdad for "not doing enough" to restrain pro-Iran militias operating in Iraq and voicing his support of the nascent ceasefire. “Since the beginning of the war, we have been hit more than 600 times. This is unacceptable. Iraq cannot be stable unless it controls the militias,” Nechirvan Barzani said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published Friday. Barzani said the Iraqi government is “not doing enough” to prevent attacks on the Kurdistan Region, stressing that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is “not satisfied” with Baghdad’s response. Strikes by Iran and Iran-aligned factions within Iraq relentlessly targeted US interests, hotels, and Kurdish security forces in the Region following the launch of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in late February. Most of the attacks have been claimed by pro-Iran militias in Iraq, with Kurdish authorities repeatedly calling on Baghdad to rein them in and accusing them of not taking action given that many of the groups in question are officially on the Iraqi state's payroll through the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The assaults have killed at least 16 people, injured dozens and caused extensive material damage in the Kurdistan Region. On Tuesday, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said that Baghdad “knows very well” who the parties involved in the recent attacks on the Kurdistan Region are, yet Baghdad “has not taken any practical steps” to stop the attacks. The US-Iran ceasefire Nechirvan Barzani reiterated his support for the truce achieved between the US and Iran, asserting that there is no "military solution" to the crisis and that "everything must be done to consolidate the ceasefire," as well as expressing his belief that it should be extended to Lebanon. "I also see a clash of mentalities. The Iranians are slow, they meticulously work on details. The Americans want to find quick solutions. But patience is needed," he observed. Barzani also stressed that "no one ever asked us Kurds to intervene militarily in Iran" and that the Kurdistan Region will not be used as a launchpad for strikes on its neighbors.