On Thursday, the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands Ruben Brekelmans visited Erbil and visited the Dutch troops in the Kurdistan Region.

Safeen Dizayee, Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government Department of Foreign Relations, welcomed Minister Brekelmans and his delegation at Erbil International Airport, accompanied by Dutch Ambassador to Iraq Janet Alberda and Dutch Consul General in Erbil Adriaan IJsselstein. 

“While tensions in the region are rising, I spoke with our military personnel in Erbil,” Minister Brekelmans posted on X. “Here we are working on reforms within the armed forces and contributing to stability and security. Appreciation for this important work and for how our people always keep a cool head!”

During his visit, Minister Brekelmans visited the town of Hawija in the Kirkuk Governorate. A 2015 Dutch airstrike during the war against ISIS accidentally killed around 70 people in the town, which was considered a support base for ISIS.

“On behalf of the Dutch government, I personally offered apologies in Hawija for the fact that during the airstrike in 2015, in the war against ISIS, civilians were unintentionally killed,” he posted on X.

Read More: Dutch Defense Minister Sees Continued Need for Military in Iraq

Minister Brekelmans previously visited the Kurdistan Region on December 23, 2024, after meeting with officials in Baghdad.

“The fight against ISIS led to a lot of casualties from the Peshmerga side, so they sacrificed a lot,” Minister Brekelmans told Kurdistan Chronicle at the time. “They took a very prominent role in fighting ISIS, and we were very happy that we could support them in this,” he added.

The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, and the United States are part of the Military Advisory Group that aims to unite the partisan Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s 70s Unit and the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s 80s Unit under the command of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs.

Read More: Dutch Colonel Highlights Peshmerga Reform Challenges and Opportunities

In the past, over 120 Dutch soldiers were deployed in the Kurdistan Region, including force protection units that left in 2023. Moreover, the Dutch army also provided training to Peshmerga forces during the fight against ISIS. Today around ten Dutch advisory personnel remain in Erbil.

“That means we only provide advice and no longer conduct training ourselves,” Colonel Niels Verhoef of the Royal Netherlands Army, who recently completed a six-month deployment in the Kurdistan Region, earlier told Kurdistan Chronicle. 

“That is actually good for the region and for the Peshmerga, because, ultimately, they must be able to train, deploy, and sustain their own forces independently.”