Defence Ministry: Latvia stops training Iraqi Security Forces

Defence Ministry: Latvia stops training Iraqi Security Forces
# 07 January 2020 04:35 (UTC +04:00)

Latvian troops stopped training with Iraqi security forces in the wake of escalated regional tensions, Defence Ministry spokesman Kaspars Galkins said, APA reports citing Sputnik.

"Latvian soldiers in Iraq stopped instructing Iraqi security forces and training with them," Galkins told journalists on Monday.

Latvian troops were sent to Iraq in 2016. There are currently six instructors serving with the Danish contingent at a joint US-Iraqi military base located 160 kilometres (99 miles) from Baghdad.

The situation in the Middle East in general, and in Iraq in particular, became tense on Friday when strikes by US drones in Baghdad took the lives of Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force.

Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks supported US actions on the same day.

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