"We are coordinating very closely with the US and our partners in the Middle East - Iraq and the rest of the Middle East - to make sure that our troops are safe,” Rutte told Rudaw’s Zinar Shino during a presser in Brussels.
The Netherlands announced in September that it would deploy another 120 soldiers and three transport helicopters to Iraq as part of its NATO mission in the country.
The Netherlands is a member of the US-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) which was formed in 2014 when the radical group seized large swathes of the Syrian and Iraqi territories. Dutch troops have been providing training to both Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi soldiers.
Amsterdam in 2021 deployed an additional 150 soldiers to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Dutch government announced in July that an infantry unit of 145 soldiers would be sent to Iraq in the beginning of 2024.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani and Rutte met in New York in late September. They discussed cooperation between Iraq and the Netherlands and doubling down on their economic partnership.
Rutte also invited Sudani to visit the Netherlands “for further discussions on potential areas of cooperation, to meet with business leaders and representatives of Dutch companies,” according to Sudani’s office.
