The National Security Council held an urgent meeting chaired by Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to discuss repercussions of US airstrikes on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian borders, as well as the targeting of criminals, saboteurs and terrorist groups who attack electric power plants and transmission towers.

The council condemned the US airstrikes on the Iraqi border with Syria, stressing that this attack was a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and counter to all international laws and charters.

During the meeting, the council discussed the use of all available legal options to prevent the recurrence of such attacks violating the airspace and territory of Iraq, in addition to conducting a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances and causes of the incident.

The council also stressed its complete rejection of turning Iraq into an arena for proxy wars or using its lands and skies to attack its neighbours.

It went on to state that the government is in constant discussion with the US and is now at an advanced stages for the establishing of logistical details for the withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq. The details will be announced at a later date.

The council said that the production of electric power had begun to rise and is now more than 20 thousand megawatts, the highest in the history of the Iraq, in addition to imported energy. The government, it noted, is overcoming the difficulties and problems that hinder many projects that had been delayed in order to provide electric power to citizens. However, there are sabotage and terrorist groups seeking to confuse the situation by targeting stations and towers, causing a loss of energy to areas in Baghdad and the Middle Euphrates, thereby exacerbating the suffering of citizens.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces instructed the Joint Operations Command to hold an emergency meeting within 24 hours and to come up with an integrated strategy, in cooperation with the security leaders of the joint operations and the Ministry of Electricity, in order to ensure uninterrupted electricity to Iraqi citizens.