Status: 08/28/2021 8:40 p.m.
It’s about proxy wars between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the fight against the “Islamic State”: A conference in Baghdad is supposed to defuse conflicts in the region – and there are many.
High-ranking representatives from the Gulf States and Iran met in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to reduce regional tensions. The main focus of the conference is the rapprochement between the two archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia and their proxy conflicts. The fight against IS and other radical Islamic groups is also on the agenda.
“We are opposed to turning Iraq into a theater for regional and international conflicts,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kasimi at the opening of the conference. The country wants to cultivate relations with other states through cooperation and integration without foreign interference in internal affairs.
Macron: Strengthening the stability of the region
French President Emmanuel Macron also took part. The main purpose of the meeting is stability in Iraq, “which will obviously contribute to stability in the entire region,” said Macron. In the fight against IS, one should “not be careless”. The right conditions for young people must also be created in Iraq so that they do not drift into “extremism and terrorism”, said the French President.
Since 2019, young people in particular have taken to the streets in Iraq to protest against corruption and the poor economic situation, among other things.
French Iraq mission independent of the USA
Macron also emphasized that France would continue its military operation in Iraq in the fight against terrorism independently of the USA. “We will maintain our counter-terrorism presence as long as the terrorist groups continue their activities and as long as the Iraqi government asks us to,” Macron said. France has the operational capacities to do this, regardless of the decisions made by the Americans. According to Macron, around 800 French soldiers are currently stationed in Iraq and Jordan.
Under the former US President Donald Trump, most of the US troops were withdrawn from Iraq – currently 2,500 US soldiers are still there. Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, announced in July that combat operations would end at the end of the year. The US Army will continue to support the Iraqi government troops as advisors and trainers afterwards.
Macron wants to act in coordination with his Iraqi counterpart Salih.
Image: dpa
Many lines of conflict
In Iraq, among other things, the conflict between the USA and pro-Iranian militias has been simmering for years. The conflict reached its climax in early 2020, when the US under President Trump killed the Iranian top general Ghassem Soleimani and the Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis in a rocket attack at Baghdad airport. The pro-Iranian militias are demanding the withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq.
In addition to the new Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian, the Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan also traveled to the conference in Baghdad. Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are enemies. Saudi Arabia fears that the Iranian leadership will expand its influence in the region, for example by supporting the militias in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.