Page 20 - MEOG Week 03 2021

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

POLICY us, in line with the constitution, and reach a that is in the interest of both sides and of the
mutually-beneficial agreement.” citizens of Iraq,” the statement concluded.
Kurdistan ‘justified’ in OPEC the Kurdistan Region’s readiness to hand over KURDISTAN24
Indeed, senior KRG officials have reiterated
compliance the income of 250,000 barrels of oil per day Low-flying Israeli jets over
to the Federal Government of Iraq, so long
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) as Baghdad provides the people of Kurdistan Lebanon spreading jitters
Ministry of Natural Resources on Monday their financial entitlements and rights.
responded to the recent statements Iraq’s oil In its statement, the KRG ministry Israeli military jets carried out several low
minister made about the Kurdistan Region’s underlined that the Kurdistan Region has flying flights over Beirut as reconnaissance
oil. adhered to the Organization of the Petroleum drones also buzzed overhead Sunday in what
In a recent interview with Iraq’s Sharqiya Exporting Countries (OPEC) decision on the has become a daily occurrence.
TV, Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar production of 430,000 bpd. The KRG “only Israel regularly violates Lebanon airspace,
made comments about “a number of issues allocated about 25,000 barrels for domestic often to carry out strikes in neighbouring
related to the Kurdistan Region’s oil,” the use [while] the federal government has set Syria. On Christmas Eve, Israeli jets flew low
KRG Ministry of Natural Resources said in a aside one million barrels for domestic use,” it late into the night, terrorizing Beirut residents
statement. added. who are no strangers to such flights. They
According to the KRG statement, Abdul- The ministry called on the Iraqi were followed by reported Israeli strikes in
Jabbar referred to oil production costs in the government to “reduce its production, not Syria.
Kurdistan Region compared to Iraq; the status ask the region to do so” as the autonomous The frequency of low flying warplanes
of Kirkuk’s oil fields; the autonomous Kurdish Kurdish region “has reduced its production over the capital has intensified in the last two
region’s compliance with OPEC; and called for by 30,000 bpd, in adherence with reduced oil weeks, making residents jittery as tensions
the decentralization of the KRG’s oil dossier. production globally.” run high in the region on the final days of
The KRG said the cost of oil production “The Kurdistan Region produces far President Donald Trump’s administration.
in the autonomous region “is justified by the less than its entitled share. It is the Iraqi “When the drone leaves, the warplanes
complex structure and nature of the Kurdistan government that has produced oil more than come. When the warplanes leave, the drones
Region’s fields, in so much that extraction it should.” return. They have seen us in our PJs, filmed us
costs more than Iraq’s oil fields.” On the comments Abdul-Jabbar made in our PJs and surveilled us in our PJs. Now
The statement added that oil prices in about the oil fields in the disputed province of what,” quipped Twitter user Areej_AAH.
the Kurdistan Region are lower than the Kirkuk belonging to the federal government “Of all types of panic I experienced in life
world market “to remain cost-effective” amid in Baghdad, the KRG Ministry of Natural in Beirut, the panic that accompanies the
“problems and obstacles placed on the region’s Resources said the matter must be resolved in Israeli warplanes flying this low in Beirut is
oil by the federal government and the SOMO line with the Iraqi Constitution. very special,” Tweeted Rudeynah Baalbaky,
company [State Organization for Marketing According to Article 140 of the who said it brought back memories of the
Oil].” constitution, a referendum was supposed 2006 war with Israel.
The KRG ministry reminded Abdul-Jabbar to take place to resolve the matter of Israel rarely comments on these reports.
that “the Kurdistan Region has the right to whether Kirkuk and other disputed areas Many fear conflict may erupt in the area
extract and sell its oil,” adding that the Iraqi should be governed by the KRG or the before Trump leaves office in retaliation for
Constitution recognizes Iraq as “a federal and Iraqi government. No such referendum has the U.S. killing of Iranian commander Qassem
decentralized state.” happened, and the status of the disputed Soleimani in Iraq last year, or to scuttle efforts
“The request to hand over the region’s oil regions remains one of the main obstacles in by the incoming administration of Joe Biden
dossier [to SOMO] is an unconstitutional relations between Erbil and Baghdad. to negotiate with Iran.
request,” the statement continued. “We are “Once again, we express our readiness to On Friday, the Lebanese army recorded an
always prepared to resolve issues between resolve issues related to the oil dossier in a way Israeli flight that lasted nearly six hours in the
country’s south.
A Twitter account that tracks aircraft
movement in the Middle East, Intel_Sky, has
recorded dozens of Israeli jets flying over
Lebanon, including mock raids, since the start
of the year. Intel_Sky called Sunday’s flights
“mock raids.”
At one point this summer, the Lebanese
army said Israel violated its airspace nearly
30 times in two days, flying reconnaissance
drones and jets into Lebanese territory.
The United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon says Israel enters Lebanese airspace
on a daily basis in violation of U.N. resolutions
and the country’s sovereignty.
Between June and October 2020, UNIFIL
recorded a daily average of 12.63 airspace
violations, totalling 61 hours and 51 minutes

P20 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 20•January•2021