Int’l Coalition Reaffirms Support for Iraq

The Iraqi army launches an operation to hunt down ISIS cells (AFP)
The Iraqi army launches an operation to hunt down ISIS cells (AFP)
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Int’l Coalition Reaffirms Support for Iraq

The Iraqi army launches an operation to hunt down ISIS cells (AFP)
The Iraqi army launches an operation to hunt down ISIS cells (AFP)

The US-led International Coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has renewed its support for Iraq as US forces begin their gradual withdrawal from the Levantine country.

The fourth round of meetings of the Joint Technical Committee between Iraq and the US had kicked off in Baghdad on Friday with the Joint Operations Command of the Iraqi Army saying that a security agreement had been signed to reduce the combat units and military forces in each of the two bases of Ain al-Assad in western Iraq’s Anbar province, and Harir in the Kurdistan region near Erbil.

Meanwhile, the Coalition said Saturday it carried out raids targeting sites of the terrorist organization on the outskirts of Kifri district in the Sulaymaniyah province in northern Iraq.

“Coalition warplanes carried out three air strikes targeting terrorist hideouts in the Koh mountain range near Nogol district in Kifri district,” according to a security source who requested anonymity.

“French warplanes bombed a location where the terrorists were hiding, near the village of Qalan, according to intelligence information,” said the source.

Earlier Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said in a statement that security forces had arrested an ISIS member in the Al-Mushahdah district, north of the capital Baghdad.

In a Twitter post, military spokesman, Col. Wayne Marotto, said the Coalition is committed to supporting both the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in their fight against ISIS and to ensure that the group “never resurges.”

It is noteworthy that the Coalition’s stand in solidarity with Iraq comes at a time that ISIS is waging several operations in different parts of the country, even in areas near the capital, Baghdad.

While the Iraqi government had concluded a truce with Iran-aligned armed factions to ensure they no longer target US troops in Iraq, the most important development remains Baghdad’s agreement with Washington to cut back the number of forces in Ain al-Assad in western Iraq’s Anbar province, and Harir in the Kurdistan region near Erbil.



Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
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Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo

Syria expects to have its first transaction with a US bank "in a matter of weeks", Syrian central bank governor Abdelkader Husriyeh said on Thursday, a day after a high-level meeting between Syrian and US commercial banks.

The resumption of transfers between Syrian and US banks would be a key milestone in the push by Syria’s new rulers to reintegrate the country into the global financial system after 14 years of civil war, Reuters reported.

Husriyeh on Wednesday held a virtual conference bringing together Syrian banks, several US banks and US officials, including Washington's Syria Envoy Thomas Barrack, with the aim of speeding up the reconnection of Syria's banking system to the global financial system.

This follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement in May that all sanctions on Syria would be lifted. That has been followed up with executive orders formally lifting some of the measures.

Syria's reintegration into the global financial system would be a major step towards enabling the kind of large financial transactions needed to kickstart its reconstruction and economic activity, and help rein in a highly informal, cash-based economy.

Husriyeh extended a formal invitation to US banks to re-establish correspondent banking ties following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on 2011 protests resulted in Western countries imposing one of the world’s strictest sanctions regimes.

"We have two clear targets: have US banks set up representative offices in Syria and have transactions resume between Syrian and American banks. I think the latter can happen in a matter of weeks," Husriyeh told Reuters.

Among the banks invited to Wednesday’s conference were JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank, though it was not immediately clear who attended.