Kurdistan
An Iraqi security delegation visiting the site of Sulaimani's drone attack on April 8, 2023. Photo: Qasim al-Araji/Facebook
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A delegation of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee is set to visit Sulaimani on Monday to investigate the drone strike which occurred near the city’s airport a few days prior.
An unidentified drone strike targeted a convoy carrying United States military personnel near Sulaimani International Airport on Friday, causing no casualties.
Sagvan Yousif, deputy head of the security and defense committee, told Rudaw on Sunday that a delegation from the committee will be visiting Sulaimani to investigate the incident, upon the request of the parliament’s Deputy Speaker Muhsin al-Mandalawi.
The delegation will meet with security and administrative officialsin Sulaimani, and will present a report of their findings to the Iraqi parliament.
Iraq's National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji visited Sulaimani on Tuesday to investigate the attack.
“Sulaimani’s security is the security of all, and any violation of the sovereignty of any Iraqi city is a violation of all of Iraq’s sovereignty, which is unacceptable,” read a statement from Araji.
The strike comes a few days after Turkey imposed a three-month flight ban on Sulaimani’s airport in response to accusations by the Turkish foreign ministry that the airport was being used for “infiltration” by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The ban is believed to be related to a helicopter crash in Duhok province on March 15, killing nine anti-terrorism forces affiliated with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), including a close relative of Abdi, who was traveling to Sulaimani. Ankara accuses the SDF’s backbone, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being the Syrian wing of the PKK.
The SDF confirmed that their general commander, Mazloum Abdi, was in the convoy that was targeted in Friday’s attack. Abdi has blamed Turkey for the attack.
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