ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s senior security official Abdul Amir al-Shammari on Sunday emphasized the importance of expanding intelligence cooperation between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Region.

In a meeting with security officials from the Kurdistan Region, Shammari, office director for the commander-in-chief of Iraq’s armed forces, emphasized the importance of “expanding and deepening intelligence cooperation” between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Region, according to a statement released by the Security Media Cell.

The meeting was attended by “the Chief of Staff of the Peshmerga forces and his accompanying delegation of commanders, officers, directors, and heads of security agencies in the Kurdistan Region.”

The Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq have been subjected to repeated attacks amid regional unrest that began in February.

Key energy and other critical infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region have been targeted by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, while other parts of the country have come under attack from US-Israeli airstrikes targeting militia bases and militia attacks against US interests.

Iraqi authorities have denounced the attacks on the Kurdistan Region, with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi “strongly” condemning a series of drone attacks on Erbil in July.

The meeting also included a detailed briefing on “shared security concerns,” as well as border crossing operations and “the operations of border units in the Kurdistan Region to ensure tight control and prevent smuggling and infiltration.”

Both sides also discussed ways to strengthen coordination in “combating drugs and dismantling drug trafficking networks.”

Counter-narcotics operations have intensified across the country under Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who said Friday that Iraq is “waging a war” against corruption and drugs, stressing that there will be “no leniency or retreat in this battle.”

Iraqi and Kurdish security agencies have also conducted joint operations to crack down on narcotics trafficking, including the dismantling of an alleged international drug trafficking network and the seizure of 260 kilograms of narcotics in Sulaimani on Friday.

In addition, Iraqi security forces announced Thursday the arrest of an alleged drug trafficker in the province, seizing one kilogram of psilocybin mushrooms and two kilograms of marijuana, in a security operation coordinated with Kurdish anti-narcotic forces