The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representation in the United States on Monday said that the peshmerga forces in Makhmur had received thermal camera systems.
General Sirwan Barzani hosted the US Kurdistan Business Council at Black Tiger Camp where Spirit of America, with the assistance of the US government, provided 6 thermal camera systems to the Peshmerga forces for improved security across the Makhmour region. pic.twitter.com/bUj4EDxW47
— KRG-USA (@KRG_USA) November 18, 2024
“Major General Sirwan Barzani hosted the U.S.-Kurdistan Business Council at Black Tiger Camp where Spirit of America, with the assistance of the U.S. government, provided six thermal camera systems to the peshmerga forces for improved security across the Makhmur region,” the KRG’s official U.S. account said on X.
We are proud to be an enduring partner to the Peshmerga in Iraq, supporting their mission to safeguard stability and security in the region. https://t.co/evEcSWzHvN
— Spirit of America (@SpiritAmerica) November 19, 2024
“We are proud to be an enduring partner to the peshmerga in Iraq, supporting their mission to safeguard stability and security in the region,” Spirit of America, a U.S. nonprofit that partners with military officials and diplomats to promote American values abroad, said in a post on X.
“Working with US Consulate Erbil, Spirit of America provided the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs with six high-tech camera systems to improve security around the area of Makhmur, where ISIS fighters continue to operate in the remote terrain,” Zack Bazzi, the Regional Director of the Middle East and Central Asia for Spirit of America, told Kurdistan Chronicle.
Major General Barzani, commander of the peshmerga forces in Sector Six, told Arab News in July 2021 that the United States should provide the peshmerga forces with some new technology.
“For example, we don’t have any drones, and lack many key technologies – such as night vision or thermal cameras, defensive weapons – because we are part of Iraq, of course, and all the equipment goes to Baghdad and not to us.”
Michael Knights, analyst at the Washington Institute, told Kurdistan Chronicle that the “import of arms to Kurdistan is difficult because arms sales often require an end-user certificate that is approved by the sovereign nation, and many arms vendors only recognize Baghdad and federal Iraq as the approved end-user.”
