In Iraq, German Minister Condemns Iran’s Cross-Border Attacks

07 March 2023, Iraq, Baghdad: Annalena Baerbock (L), Germany's Foreign Minister, speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, following their joint meeting. (dpa)
07 March 2023, Iraq, Baghdad: Annalena Baerbock (L), Germany's Foreign Minister, speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, following their joint meeting. (dpa)
TT
20

In Iraq, German Minister Condemns Iran’s Cross-Border Attacks

07 March 2023, Iraq, Baghdad: Annalena Baerbock (L), Germany's Foreign Minister, speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, following their joint meeting. (dpa)
07 March 2023, Iraq, Baghdad: Annalena Baerbock (L), Germany's Foreign Minister, speaks during a joint press conference with Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, following their joint meeting. (dpa)

Iranian missile attacks across the Iraqi border are unacceptable and put both civilians and regional stability at risk, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on a visit to the Iraqi capital nearly 20 years after the US-led invasion.

"With its missile attacks, the Iranian regime shows not only that it recklessly and brutally suppresses its own people, it also puts human life and the stability of the whole region at risk to hold on to power," she said on Tuesday.

"It is unacceptable and dangerous for the whole region," she told a news conference with her Iraqi counterpart.

Last year, Tehran fired missiles at bases of Kurdish groups in northern Iraq it accuses of involvement in protests against its restrictions on women, displacing hundreds of Iranian Kurds and killing some.

Iran has for years refuted Western claims it is a destabilizing influence in the region. Tehran has accused Western countries of orchestrating unrest and has accused protesters in ethnic minority regions of working on behalf of separatist groups.

Baerbock, visiting Iraq on the same day as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said she was sending a signal that Europe's biggest economy wanted deeper cooperation with Iraq.

She said she would discuss Iraq's security and stability, the question of Yazidis, and cooperation on climate change.



Syria Reaches Deal to Integrate SDF within State Institutions, Presidency Says

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) shaking the hand of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi after the signing of an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) shaking the hand of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi after the signing of an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
TT
20

Syria Reaches Deal to Integrate SDF within State Institutions, Presidency Says

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) shaking the hand of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi after the signing of an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) shaking the hand of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi after the signing of an agreement, to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in the Syrian capital Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

The Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of Syria's oil-rich northeast, has signed a deal agreeing to integrate into Syria's new state institutions, the Syrian presidency said on Monday.

The deal, which included a complete cessation of hostilities, was signed by interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and the SDF's commander, Mazloum Abdi.

Under the deal, whose text was posted online by the presidency, all civilian and military institutions in northeast Syria will be integrated within the state, which will thus take over control of borders, airports and oil and gas fields.

The SDF agrees to support the government in combating remnants of deposed president Bashar al-Assad's regime, and any threats to Syria's security and unity.

Since Assad was overthrown by Sharaa's Islamist forces in December, groups backed by Türkiye, one of Sharaa's main supporters, have clashed with the SDF, the main ally in a US coalition against ISIS militants in Syria.

The SDF is spearheaded by the YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years.

Türkiye regards the PKK, YPG and SDF as terrorist groups, and Sharaa's new Damascus administration had been pressing the SDF to merge into newly-minted state security forces.

Abdi had previously expressed a willingness for his forces to be part of the new defense ministry, but said they should join as a bloc rather than individuals, an idea that was rejected by the new government.

The US and Türkiye’s Western allies list the PKK as a terrorist group, but not the YPG or the SDF.