Formal retirement ceremony for Iraqi Army General Zebari- video

Still from MOD video posted 04JUL15, of Iraqi Army General Babaker Zebari at his formal retirement ceremony (complete, embedded video at bottom of post).

According to Agence France-Presse, dated 29JUN15:

Iraqi premier Haider al-Abadi has "retired" the army's chief of staff, the most senior officer removed since jihadists overran large parts of the country last year, his spokesman said Monday.

Gen. Babaker Zebari "has been retired" on Abadi's orders, Saad al-Hadithi told AFP, without providing further details.

Abadi has sacked dozens of army and police officers in an effort to restructure and improve security forces that performed disastrously when the Islamic State jihadist group launched an offensive last June, overrunning major areas north and west of Baghdad.

[…]

Zebari repeatedly said before the [U.S. military] withdrawal that it would be better if American forces stayed, as it would take years for the Iraqi army to be fully ready.

"If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020," Zebari told AFP in 2010.

While Zebari was chief of staff, military responsibility was devolved elsewhere post 2011, with former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki centralizing control of the armed forces in his office and bypassing the defense ministry.

Commentary: General Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, was seen two weeks ago among Abadi's delegation of Iraqis conferring with Iranian leadership in Tehran. The Iraqi chief of staff was outfitted in civvies.

Zebari claims he had applied for resignation back in October 2014.

It's reported Kurdish President Masoud Barzani has nominated Iraqi Air Force General Anwar Hama Amin to serve as the next chief of staff.

Zebari's inconvenient at the-time remarks over the termination of a U.S. military presence in Iraq were reminiscent of U.S. Army GEN Shinseki's prior, pre-OIF response to Congress, where Shinseki reckoned a force numbering in the hundreds of thousands required for a successful U.S. military occupation of the country.

Iraq Can’t Stop Iran Arms Flights to Syria - FM

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview with pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday that Iraq is unable to stop Iran transferring weapons to Syria through its airspace.

“We reject and condemn the transfer of weapons through our airspace and we will inform the Iranian side of that formally. But we do not have the ability to stop it,” Zebari said. “If you imagine these flights breach United Nations Security Council resolutions banning weapons imports and exports from Iran... I invite you in the name of the government to help us stop these flights across Iraqi airspace,” he added. (Asharq al-Awsat/Reuters, 13 July)

Zebari said Iraq does not provide any weapons or money to Syria and, despite requests from Damascus, does not sell it crude oil at preferential rates.

Photo credit: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (Asharq al-Awsat)

Iraq Has Forced Down Iranian Planes Shipping Arms to Syria - FM

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said today that Iraq was determined to prevent the shipment of arms from Iran to Syria. Zebari told reporters in Baghdad that Iraq had already forced down Iranian planes for inspection and had turned them back out of Iraqi airspace after finding that they were carrying weapons bound for Syria. (Reuters, 30 September)

The Iraqi foreign minister said he had promised the United States that it would prevent such Iranian flights over Iraqi territory. Last week, Baghdad made a formal request to Tehran to halt the flights.

Photo credit: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari (Reuters)

Baghdad in Talks with Syrian Opposition and Government - FM

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zebari said during an interview with Al Arabiya that Baghdad was in talks with both the Syrian government and the opposition.

“(We) have held meetings with Syrian opposition, and have relations with the Syrian government (at the same time),” Zebari said. (Al Arabiya, 13 July)

Zebari added that Iran does not have any role in formulating Iraq’s policy toward Syria. “Iran does not control a national, political Iraqi decision.”

Zebari described “what is happening in Syria as important to [Iraq],"
adding, "that the [Iraqi government] is afraid that the conflict to widen to become a full-fledged sectarian war.”



Photo Credit: Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zebari / Al Arabiya

Iraq's foreign minister in Tehran

Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari with Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi

From PressTV:

The Iraqi foreign minister says members of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) must leave Iraq, stressing that Baghdad's stance on the issue is crystal clear.

“Camp Ashraf is to be shut down, and members of the [MKO] group have been given until the end of the current year (2011) to leave Iraqi soil,” Hoshyar Zebari said during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran on Tuesday, the Fars news agency reported.

He went on to say that Baghdad has proposed that a trilateral committee be established to discuss the situation of the terrorist organization.

Tehran and Baghdad also plan to hold talks with the Red Cross to discuss the future of the MKO members residing at the camp, he added.

Zebari also said the Iraqi government has suggested on several occasions that arrangements be made to facilitate the repatriation of the MKO members who want to return to Iran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the visiting Iraqi official underscored that the US military's presence in Iraq will not be extended unless Baghdad deems it necessary.

He stressed that the Iraqi people do not approve of the US military presence in their country, touching upon a security pact between Baghdad and Washington which requires that the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.

“The extension of US troops' presence in Iraq is not an issue, unless the Iraqi government wants them to stay,” he said.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has seen diplomatic gains in the region as of late, with Defense Minister Vahidi meeting with Afghanistan's top leadership, to the east, and Foreign Minister Salehi reaching agreement with his Iraqi counterpart over the MKO terrorist issue, to the west. What's more, it was announced today that Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi is scheduled to visit Iraq on July 6 to attend a meeting of the Tehran-Baghdad High Commission of Economic Cooperation.

Photo: Hamed Jafarnejad at Fars News Agency

Iraq Criticizes Iran’s Shelling of Kurds

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari today strongly criticized Iranian artillery barrages against Kurdish positions in border areas (AP). Zebari warned Iran that if the shelling continues it will negatively affect relations between the two countries.

The recent shelling of Kurdish villages by Iran started last week and has since intensified. (Please see yesterday’s entry on this blog.)