On the 25th local time, according to the previous vote of the Dutch Council of Ministers, the Netherlands is preparing to send up to 150 additional soldiers to the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region to strengthen its military deployment in Iraq. At the same time, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said that the activities of the extremist organization Islamic State in Iraq have recently intensified.
Follow the Middle East Al-Monitor News website on the 25th that soon after US President Trump announced the withdrawal from Iraq, the Dutch Council of Ministers voted on November 20 to send up to 150 additional Dutch soldiers to the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region.
It is reported that the Dutch army will defend it with the U.S. military. Security at Erbil International Airport, an important base of the Coalition of Anti-Extremist Organizations, the additional Dutch soldiers may arrive in the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region in early January 2021.
Two weeks ago, Masooud Barzani, the former chairman of the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region, met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and discussed security issues in the Kurdistan region.
According to the report, the Netherlands is a member of the United States-led Coalition of Anti-Extremist Organizations, and Dutch military personnel provide military training and advice to the central government of Iraq and the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region. The Dutch government estimates that its troops have trained more than 100,000 Iraqi government soldiers and armed personnel of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (Peshmerga).
Prior to the decision to increase troops, the Dutch government voted in October to continue the task of the country’s army in Iraq, including the training of 60 Dutch military personnel for Iraqi government soldiers and armed personnel in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, and providing 20 military and civil advisers to the Iraqi government. In April 2020, the mission was temporarily interrupted due to the return of 20 Dutch soldiers due to the spread of the epidemic.
According to the Russian News Agency (RIA) on the 27th, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said during his visit to Moscow, the capital of Russia, that the activities of the extremist organization Islamic State in Iraq have recently intensified. “We have information that extremist organizations in Abar, Kirkuk, Diyala and Ninewe and other places continue to appear.
Iraqi security forces have recently arrested a number of extremist organizations of different nationalities. In response to this matter, the Iraqi government is engaged in dialogue with the European countries involved, which have citizens joining extremist organizations.
