BAGHDAD: Baghdad plans to redeploy federal guards along its border with Iran and Turkey, following repeated bombings in the two neighboring countries opposing opposition teams in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The announcement gave the impression of responding specifically to Iran, which had publicly called for such a decision.
The government made the decision to “identify a plan for the redeployment of Iraqi border guards . . . along the border with Iran and Turkey,” said a statement issued after a government assembly on security overseen by Prime Minister Mohammad Shia Al Sudani.
The initiative will be “in coordination with the government of the Kurdistan Region and the Peshmerga ministry,” he added, referring to Kurdish regional forces whose leader was also provided at the meeting.
The borders of Iraqi Kurdistan are lately guarded by Peshmerga, which operates in the region under the direction of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Baghdad.
Iran has accused outside powers and exiled Kurdish teams of stoking a wave of protests sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who died after being arrested by Tehran police.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned last Wednesday that Tehran would continue to act as “threats” from abroad.
Iran’s army’s operations in Iraqi Kurdistan will continue until Baghdad’s national forces are stationed on the border and “we will no longer want to act to protect our territorial integrity,” he said.
Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani expressed hope that the Iraqi government would deploy “border guards on the border not unusual, so that Iran has to take additional deterrent measures to repel threats. “
On Tuesday, a Peshmerga delegation met with representatives of the interior and defense ministries in Baghdad.
They “decided on a strategy to strengthen border security and implementation procedures to be followed in the near future,” according to a statement from Kurdish authorities.
On Wednesday, Lawk Ghafuri, head of foreign media in Kurdistan, also told AFP that “the Kurdistan Regional Government will send Peshmerga forces as reinforcements to the border. “
Since the 1980s, Iraqi Kurdistan has been home to several Iranian-Kurdish opposition teams that in the past led an armed opposition to Tehran.
In years, its activities have declined, but the new wave of protests in Iran has reignited tensions.
On Sunday, Ankara introduced a crusade of airstrikes by Kurdish forces in parts of Iraq and Syria as part of Operation Sword-Claw, following a fatal attack in Istanbul on Nov. 13 that blamed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
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