Baghdad and Erbil discuss security coordination to counter ISIS threat

Iraq’s Ministry of Defence yesterday held talks with senior security delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government to deepen security and military cooperation between the two sides to counter the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS), the Anadolu Agency reported.

In a statement, the ministry said: “The Joint Ministerial Security Committee today held its first coordination meeting at the Defence Ministry headquarters in Baghdad to activate and coordinate security work.”

The meeting was attended by US Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones. The statement did not give further details.

In previous statements, Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament Amin Bakir said: “The Kurdish security delegation’s visit to Baghdad today comes as part of the joint security preparations conducted by the federal security agencies to liberate the common areas in the north of the country.”

He explained that “the visit also aimed at discussing strengthening the Peshmerga’s capacity to continue their progress in Nineveh province.”

The Peshmerga forces announced on 18 December that they recaptured Mount Sinjar and broke the ISIS siege which began in August.

The next day, the forces said they entered the town of Sinjar and engaged in clashes with members of ISIS in the city.