16.02.2018, Brussel.
NATO plans to scale up its presence in Iraq in the near future, Deutsche Welle reported on February 15th.
During the meeting in Brussels, defense ministers of NATO member-countries made a decision regarding the necessity to provide additional aid to the Iraqi intelligence services in combating ISIL (organization banned in Russia). The aid will include additional training of servicemen of the Iraqi army and special squads, and creation of military academies. NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg argues that the decision was made in response to multiple requests of both the Iraqi government in Baghdad and the US-led anti-terrorist coalition member countries. “We have just agreed to start planning for a NATO training mission in Iraq that has been requested by both the Iraqi government and the Global Coalition,” Stoltenberg said after the meeting.
Stoltenberg did not specify how big the NATO presence in Iraq will become within the frameworks of the program, but Deutsche Welle has information that several hundreds of military men could be sent to Iraq. The mission is scheduled to start in the middle of the year.
Back in 2003, NATO started a war against Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussain. By 2010, the main part of NATO’s military forces was withdrawn from the country. But in 2011 as a result of the so-called Arabic Spring in the Gulf countries and the countries of Northern Africa, a strong destabilization in the region occurred, with multiple small and large-scale groups of radical Islamists emerging. In 2013 a quazi-state formation calling itself ISIL (organization banned in Russia) appeared in the territory of Syria and Iraq. The core of the ISIL (organization banned in Russia) was comprised of former Hussain’s military men as well as former prisoners from the US Camp Bucca detention facility.
The Iraqi army, which was created and trained by NATO instructors, failed to counter ISIL (organization banned in Russia). Moreover, the main part of Iraqi arsenals was surrendered to the terrorist organization almost without a fight. As a result of ISIL’s (organization banned in Russia) rapid spread of influence on the territory of Iraq and Syria, in 2014 the US-led coalition started an operation against the terrorist organization.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
