NATO considering resuming mission in Iraq: general

NATO's mission to Iraq, which was entirely evacuated to a base in Italy due to the Middle East war, could return to Baghdad in the coming months, its former commander told AFP.

"The general staff is working on various options" to allow the mission to return to Iraq, said French General Christophe Hintzy, who this week handed over command of the mission to Spanish General Ramon Armada.

"Where, when, how? We have no idea. But the determination is in our bones," he added after the handover ceremony on Tuesday in the presence of his successor, specifying that "several scenarios" were under consideration for this return, which should take place "step by step".

"But we won’t be going back in the same configuration. It will be a much smaller setup," he added, saying he could not give any figures.

The NATO mission in Iraq, launched in 2018 at the request of the Iraqi government, is a non-combat mission focused on advising and strengthening Iraq’s military and security capabilities.

Around 750 people of 21 different nationalities, as well as 500 contractors, were working on the mission in Baghdad before its redeployment to Italy.

On March 18 and 20, three weeks after the first strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28, all approximately 1,300 personnel in the mission were brought back to Europe in two rotations.

Iran conducted strikes in Iraq and the Gulf region against targets it said were linked to the US and Israel.

NATO said it would continue the mission remotely from its regional command in Naples, in southern Italy.

Hintzy said he had "not really" understood the decision to bring everyone home.

"It hit me a bit hard, because we had plans to keep around 300 (people) there safely," he said, adding that the mission had “never been in any danger, even during the more difficult events".