On Tuesday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Peshmerga Affairs Shoresh Ismail Abdulla and Chief of Staff of the Peshmerga Forces Lieutenant General Issa Ozeir joined a high-level meeting between the Iraqi, Jordanian, and Syrian armies held in Amman, Jordan.

The meeting discussed relations and coordination among the participating parties to safeguard regional security and their shared borders, as well as developing joint relations within a region facing numerous security challenges, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs (MoPA) said. 

Participants also emphasized the need to continue working together to protect one another’s security and strengthen coordination and cooperation.

MoPA officials also attended the change-of-command ceremony for the Coalition Forces in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday held at the Coalition’s headquarters in Jordan.

During the ceremony, Major General Kevin Lambert turned over command of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) to Rear Admiral Liam Hulin, marking the formal transfer of leadership, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) wrote in a post on X.

Established in 2014 by CENTCOM and headquartered in Jordan, CJTF-OIR was established to fight the threat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, which included support for Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria, and a U.S. military presence in the Kurdistan Region, including at the Erbil Airport.

Minister of Peshmerga Affairs Abdulla praised the Coalition Forces’ efforts over the past several years, particularly the prominent role of Major General Lambert, who has played an important role in advancing the ongoing military reform process of the Peshmerga forces and maintaining coordination between the MoPA and the Coalition, the MoPA said in a press release. 

According to the 2024 U.S.-Iraq security agreement, the U.S.-led military coalition will leave the Kurdistan Region of Iraq completely by the end of September this year.

“These forces came to Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government, and their mission was to fight against the ISIS terrorist organization, which is why their presence continued,” KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani recently told Al Jazeera. 

“As we all know, this mission is ending at the end of September, and after that time, those forces will withdraw from the country. Therefore, the presence of the coalition forces was one of the reasons they relied upon. In my opinion, the decision to have them withdraw was a very bad decision by all those who view this coalition force as a problem, because they had come to help the people of Iraq and save them from terrorism, yet they attack them just as an excuse.”