KRG slams Hezbollah chief over anti-Barzani remarks

By Ali Mohamed

ERBIL, Iraq (AA) – Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) on Monday decried recent remarks by Secretary-General of Lebanese group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

On Sunday, Nasrallah claimed former regional leader Masoud Barzani was panicked by Daesh attacks and called slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani for help with the latter arriving in the Kurdish region along with a group of senior Hezbollah members whom Nasrallah said kept the danger out of the region.

Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone airstrike outside Baghdad airport earlier this month. Iran retaliated with firing a dozen ballistic missiles at airbases housing U.S. forces in Iraq.

In a statement, KRG spokesman Jutiar Adel asserted that only the Kurdish Peshmerga forces defeated Daesh in the region and expressed gratitude for those who helped.

"You forgot that for years you did not see the sunlight and lived in catacombs while insulting a brave people," Adel said, directing his message to Nasrallah.

In mid-2014, Daesh/ISIS overran roughly one-third of Iraq, including Mosul which it took as its main stronghold.

By late 2017, the Iraqi army -- with the help of the U.S.-led military coalition -- recovered most if not all the territories lost to the terrorist group.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat