The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq has formally asked the US-led coalition to deploy observers to patrol its border with the Kurdish-controlled northeast of Syria, where a US-backed Kurdish militia and its various affiliates have governed since 2012, Al-Monitor has learned.
Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), made the request to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a telephone call Tuesday at noon EST, Iraqi Kurdish officials told Al-Monitor. The officials declined to comment on Pompeo's reaction. The exchange with Pompeo follows a formal request relayed during Barzani's Dec. 21 meeting with the commanding general of the Special Operations Joint Task-Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, Brig. Gen. Guillaume Beaurpere.