MESOP : AL JAZEERA REPORTING – KDP reappoints retired General Babakir Zebari as Barzani’s military adviser: media

14 July 2015 – Al Jazeera – ERBIL-Hewler, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP appoints ex-Iraqi army chief of staff General Babakir Zebari as Barzani’s military adviser after been retired by Iraqi Prime Minister last month, millet press reported. Iraqi premier Haider al-Abadi has retired the army’s chief of staff, the most senior officer removed since Islamic State jihadists overran large parts of the country last year.General Babakir Zebari, an ethnic Kurd, “has been retired” on Abadi’s orders, without providing further details.

Zebari returned to Kurdistan on Monday and he was reappointed by KDP as the military adviser for Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani. Abadi has sacked dozens of army and police officers in an effort to restructure and improve security forces that performed disastrously when the Islamic State jihadist group (IS) launched an offensive last June, overrunning major areas north and west of Baghdad.“His replacement is said to be also a Kurdish general. This is essentially a policy position that has traditionally been given to Kurds.” Military sources say a Kurdish general with the Iraqi Air Force, Anwar Hamad Amin, is expected to replace Zebari. Zebari repeatedly said before the withdrawal that it would be better if American forces stayed, as it would take years for the Iraqi army to be fully ready. “If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the U.S. army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020,” Zebari told AFP in 2010.