Baghdad-INA
Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that a military delegation had visited the Kurdistan Region to secure air protection for oil facilities.
The ministry said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that, “In implementation of directives issued by the Army Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Lt. Gen. Saad Ali Ati Harbiya, conducted a high-level field visit to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq on Wednesday.”
It added that the accompanying delegation included Ground Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Qasim Mohammed Saleh, Deputy Commander of Air Defense Maj. Gen. Hassan Nouri Farhan, the Assistant commander of Military Intelligence, as well as a number of staff officers and security officials.
It noted that “the delegation was received by Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Reber Ahmed, in the presence of a number of political and security leaders in the region, where the two sides held an expanded meeting during which they discussed the security situation of vital facilities and mechanisms for enhancing joint coordination and security integration for their protection.”
It added that the field tour, accompanied by the Director of Oil Fields Security, included a detailed briefing on protection plans, potential challenges and ways to address them. The delegation also visited several strategic oil fields in the provinces of Erbil and Duhok, including the Shaikhan oil field, the Khurmala field operated by the KAR Group, the Fishkhabour field and the Khabour field, to assess security measures and levels of operational and combat readiness.
According to the ministry, the visit focused primarily on evaluating requirements for air protection of vital areas and oil facilities and verifying the effectiveness of preventive measures designed to safeguard economic infrastructure, ensuring uninterrupted operations at these strategic assets and supporting long-term stability.
The Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations stressed the importance of maintaining close coordination and cooperation between federal military institutions and relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region, praising ongoing efforts to secure oil fields in a manner that serves the national interest and protects the country's economic resources and assets.