Joint military delegation arrives in al-Sulaymaniyah
Shafaq News / A high-ranking military delegation comprising members from the Federal Defense Ministry and the U.S.-led International Coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria arrived in the city of Sulaymaniyah on Tuesday morning.
The military delegation was received at the headquarters of the 70th Brigade, with prominent members of the political office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and leaders of the Peshmerga 70th Forces and Sulaymaniyah Protection Forces present, reported Shafaq News Agency's correspondent in al-Sulaymaniyah.
"The meeting is slated to discuss mutual operations in the contact zones in Diyala and Kirkuk provinces, as well as the establishment of two joint battalions in these regions between the Federal Army and the Peshmerga forces," added the correspondent.
Earlier this year, Brigadier General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command, announced the completion of the formation of the two joint battalions between the army and the Peshmerga.
The Peshmerga Ministry had previously conducted intense discussions with Baghdad regarding the arming of two joint battalions from its forces with the Iraqi Army for their deployment in the disputed areas or their peripheries.
Al-Khafaji, in a press statement followed by Shafaq News Agency, said, "These two battalions have been formed and named, and are awaiting the approval of the federal budget to enable them to begin their duties."
He further confirmed the achievement of an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government, noting that the two battalions will be deployed in the security vacuum areas after completing the necessary training.
The areas witnessing security gaps extend over 40 kilometers from al-Khafaji's perspective, but the Kurdistan Region considers the area to be much larger. These areas encompass vast stretches of land starting from the Syrian border in the west in Nineveh province, through Salah al-Din, then Kirkuk, and reaching Diyala at the Iranian border.
The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, has repeatedly called for the formation of a joint force from the Peshmerga and the Iraqi forces to fill the security gaps in the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad.
Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement in 2020 aiming to establish six centers for joint security coordination to counter the remnants of ISIS in the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad.
