Shafaq News- Baghdad
NATO is considering returning itsmission to Iraq after relocating all personnel to Italy during the recentMiddle East conflict, the alliance’s former mission commander, French General ChristopheHintzy, told AFP on Friday.
Hintzy explained that NATO militarystaff were studying “various options” to reestablish the operation in Iraq,without specifying when or how such a move could take place.
Earlier this week, Hintzy handedcommand of the NATO mission to Spanish General Ramon Armada. During the handoverceremony, he indicated that any future return would likely take place “step bystep” and in a reduced format. “We won’t be going back in the sameconfiguration. It will be a much smaller setup,” he remarked.
The NATO mission in Iraq waslaunched in 2018 at the request of the Iraqi government as a non-combatadvisory operation focused on strengthening Iraqi military and securitycapabilities. Before the redeployment, around 750 personnel from 21 countries,alongside roughly 500 contractors, were stationed in Baghdad.
On March 18 and 20, NATO evacuatedabout 1,300 personnel to Europe in two rotations, nearly three weeks after thefirst US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Iran later carried out strikesin Iraq and Gulf states against targets it described as linked to the UnitedStates and Israel.
Since the evacuation, NATO hascontinued operating remotely from its regional command headquarters in Naples,southern Italy.