SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Kurdistan Region Vice President Jafar Sheikh Mustafa has paid a visit to the Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) headquarters, where he vowed to fully support them, a press release Monday said.
The vice president of the Kurdistan Region met General Director of the CTG Wahab Halabjai in the force’s headquarters located in Sulaimani.
The meeting was focused on the steps and the future plans of the CTG Directorate to combat the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) remnants in the disputed territories, mostly in its remote areas.
Discussions with the CTG also touched upon further coordination between the Peshmerga forces and the Counter-Terrorism forces, aiming to restore the security of those areas that ISIS exploited due to a security gap.
Moreover, vice President Mustafa has extended all of his support to the complete works and activities that belong to the CTG, according to the press release.
“The CTG was a steel hand in destroying ISIS and its threats which were possessed over the Kurdistan Region,” Mustafa told the meeting.
He also vowed to “fully” support CTG’s activities.
“We will help to succeed in your endeavors like always, and our all efforts head to protecting the tranquility and security of the Region,” Mustafa added.
Islamic State controlled roughly a third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017.
However, the Iraqi forces and Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led Coalition forces as well as Iran-backed Shia militias defeated the militant group in 2017.
While Islamic State was driven out of most of the territory, many of the remnants of ISIS militants are operating in the disputed territories between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Federal Government.
The areas created a security vacuum, exploited by terrorists to pursue their own harmful actions to destabilize the country’s security, still possessing real threats to the locals.
Sulaimani-based CTG played an unforgettable role when they smashed the shadow of the ISIS tyranny over the Region in the early stages of the war in 2014, while most of the forces had fled from the battlefields.
