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Abadi: We Will Pay Salaries of Peshmerga, Kurdistan Employees

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. AFP file photo
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. AFP file photo
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Abadi: We Will Pay Salaries of Peshmerga, Kurdistan Employees

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. AFP file photo
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. AFP file photo

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Tuesday that his government plans to pay soon the salaries of Kurdish Peshmerga forces and public servants who are on the payroll of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

“We will soon be able to pay all the salaries of the Peshmerga and the employees of the region,” Abadi said during a press conference.

Meanwhile, the administration of the international Ibrahim Khalil crossing between the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and Turkey denied on Tuesday the deployment of any Iraqi armed units from the Iraqi side of the crossing, adding that conditions there were very normal with no changes in its administration.

Ibrahim Khalil border crossing Security Director Abdul Wahab Mohammed told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The crossing is still under the administration of the Kurdistan Regional Government. There is no presence of any employee from the Iraqi government in the crossing, and there were no changes in the administration.”

He said that Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Othman al-Ghanimi and head of the intelligence had visited the crossing on Tuesday morning on their way to Turkey. He said both men travelled to Turkey to check on the Iraqi soldiers currently present in the Turkish side of the border.

“The passage of the Iraqi military delegation through the Ibrahim Khalil crossing was held in coordination with the Peshmerga forces.

Mohammed also said that the Iraqi flag was always flying at the border crossing next to the flag of the Kurdistan Region.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the Iraqi central government has been handed over the Habur border gate.

“We will start to put into action another border gate through Tal Afar in the short term, in agreement with the Iraqi government,” Yildirim said.

Tal Afar is located some 40 kilometers west of Mosul.

Separately, the Iraqi cabinet voted Tuesday on a decision to hold the next parliamentary elections next May 15.

“Voting must be electronic, and parties participating in the election must not have armed wings," the government said in a statement.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.