On Wednesday, an Iraqi military delegation headed by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Lieutenant General Saad Ali Ati Harbiya visited the Kurdistan Region to secure air protection for its oil facilities.

The delegation was received by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Interior Reber Ahmed, as well as several political and security leaders. The two sides held an expanded meeting in which they discussed the security situation of vital facilities, as well as mechanisms to enhance joint coordination and security integration to protect them.

The field tour — accompanied by the Director of Oil Field Security, who provided a detailed briefing on protection plans, potential challenges, and ways to address them — included an inspection visit to several strategic oil fields in the Erbil and Duhok governorates. 

These included the Shaikan oil field, the Khor Mor field, the Fishkhabur field, and the Khabor field. The visits aimed to assess the adopted measures and the level of combat and security readiness.

The visits mainly focused on evaluating the requirements for securing air protection for vital areas and oil facilities, and verifying the effectiveness of preventive measures taken to fortify economic infrastructure, as well as ensuring the continuity of operations in these strategic lifelines and maintaining sustainable stability.

Before and since February 28, there have been several drone and missile attacks on Kurdistan Region oil and gas facilities, most notably the Khor Mor Gas field.

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In a phone call with U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright in March, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani underlined the need to protect the Kurdistan Region’s energy infrastructure and halt attacks on oil companies operating within the region.