Every effort must be made to avoid Iraq being sucked up into an escalation of the Middle East war, French President Emmanuel Macron said after speaking with the head of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Report informs via Arab News.
Macron posted his message on X after a deadly strike in northern Iraq against the former paramilitary group the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
"Everything must be done to avoid Iraq being drawn into the current escalation," he said.
Macron said he had told the Iraqi Kurdistan region's President Nechirvan Barzani that he also viewed as "unacceptable" a drone attack against his official residence earlier Saturday.
"This very worrying development adds to a rise in attacks against Iraqi institutions, like those that left six eshmergas dead this week," he said, referring to members of Kurdistan's armed forces who were killed in an Iranian missile strike Tuesday.