ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government on Wednesday decided to take steps to increase the deployment of troops on its borders with Iran and Turkey in an effort to curb further violations of its sovereignty as attacks by Tehran and Ankara have greatly surged in recent months. The decision came during a National Security Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, during which an agreement was reached to work towards four key steps to strengthen the country’s territorial integrity. The council agreed to “develop a plan to redeploy the Iraqi border forces to hold the zero line along the borders with Iran and Turkey,” Iraqi state media reported, adding that a Peshmerga representative was present in the meeting. Iran and Turkey have greatly increased their cross-border attacks on the Kurdistan Region in recent months, with the former targeting Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups based in the Region on the grounds that they are fueling the ongoing unrest in the Islamic republic while the latter on Sunday launched a fresh aerial campaign targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the Region. The Iraqi government also agreed to cooperate with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “unify the national effort to protect the Iraqi borders,” according to the statement. While the new Turkish operation is solely targeting the PKK from the skies, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warnedthat a ground offensive against the Kurdish group and its alleged Syrian offshoot, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), is imminent in both the Kurdistan Region and northern Syria. On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) drones targeted a military base of a Kurdish opposition party in Prde town, along the Erbil and Kirkuk border, a day after bases of two other Iranian-Kurdish armed groups were targeted in Erbil and Sulaimani provinces with missiles and drones. The Iranian attacks followed a warning by IRGC’s Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani last week when he threatened ground operations by Iran against opposition parties taking shelter inside Iraqi land. Iraqi officials have labeled Ankara’s military operations as a “hostile” and “provocative” violation of the country’s sovereignty, but official responses have largely been limited to condemnations.
