Iraq
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris, on January 26, 2023. Photo: Christophe Archambault/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani said Wednesday in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron that authorities have apprehended suspects involved in a deadly attack on a French military presence near Erbil that killed a French soldier.
According to a statement from Sudani’s office, during the call he received from Macron, he highlighted “the efforts of the Iraqi security forces and their success in apprehending those involved in launching a drone attack that targeted a site near Erbil where members of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS were present, resulting in the death of a French officer.”
In mid-March, Sudani pledged to launch an investigation into a drone attack on a joint French-Peshmerga base near Erbil that killed a French soldier and wounded six others. Senior Peshmerga commander Sirwan Barzani told Rudaw at the time that the base hosts French military advisers and trainers who “have nothing to do with war and conflict and are only military advisers legally present in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.”
France maintains hundreds of troops in the Kurdistan Region, where its forces train Peshmerga fighters as part of the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Following the attack, an Iraqi pro-Iran armed group, Ashab al-Kahf, warned that French interests in Iraq and across the region would be “under targeting fire,” after the arrival of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the region at the time.
This came as part of retaliation by Iran and its allied groups in Iraq against alleged US and coalition forces in the region, in response to the US and Israeli campaign against Iran that began on February 28.
Sudani said the apprehension “reflects the state’s commitment to enforcing the law across all parts of Iraq,” the statement added.
A significant number of the attacks were directed at the Kurdistan Region, where authorities have repeatedly condemned strikes hitting civilian areas, infrastructure and security forces.
Officials in Erbil have said the Region has been disproportionately targeted despite not being a party to the conflict and have repeatedly called on Baghdad to put an end to attacks launched against the Kurdistan Region from Iraqi territory.
Despite Washington and Tehran announcing a two-week ceasefire on Wednesday, the US embassy in Baghdad warned that Iranian proxy forces in Iraq may conduct further attacks against American citizens in the country.
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