ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji on Wednesday acknowledged the efforts of Kurdish leadership to protect the country from the spillovers of the joint US-Israeli war on Iran, adding that they will continue with their policy of preventing possible threats on neighboring countries from Iraqi territories.
“We thank the leadership of the Kurdistan Region for their position, which played a major role in maintaining security and stability,” Araji told Rudaw. He added that Kurdish leaders have also helped keep back Iranian opposition groups from being dragged into the conflict.
The US and Israel entered war with Iran on February 28, launching massive aerial strikes that killed the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamnei along with dozens of political and military officials. Iran and armed groups aligned with the ‘Axis of Resistance’ it leads responded with thousands of drones and missiles, prolonging the war for about 40 days before reaching a fragile cessation last week following Pakistani-brokered talks.
Iraq played a delicate balancing act to maintain neutrality, with some of its state-sponsored factions within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) taking Iran’s side in the war while the government sustained diplomatic engagements with both belligerents.
Iran and a number of PMF factions fired thousands of drones and missiles across the region, targeting US bases, diplomatic offices, business interests, and allies in addition to Iranian opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region.
As a result, Kurdistan Region endured more than 700 drone and missile attacks, according to Rudaw’s tracking, killing over a dozen and injuring more than 90.
Iranian Kurdish opposition groups have six camps in the Kurdistan Region - four in Erbil and two in Sulaimani. Although Tehran perceives them as a threat, the groups have not entered Iran during war through the Kurdistan Region. Despite a two-week ceasefire with the US, Iran has hit two of these bases since Tuesday, killing one and injuring at least two.
“Our relations with the Kurdistan Region are ongoing,” Iraq’s national security chief confirmed to Rudaw on Wednesday, adding that they are working to ensure that Iraqi soil does not become a “source of aggression against neighboring countries or any other nations.'"
Malik Mohammed contributed to this article from Erbil, Kurdistan Region.