The Kurdistan Regional Parliament elected yesterday, Nezhirvan Barzani, nephew and brother-in-law of the Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, as president of the autonomous region, under a boycott by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
During the session held in Erbil, 68 deputies out of 111 voted in favor of Nejirvan, 52. Nujervan Barzani, the grandson of the historic Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani and the son of Idriss Barzani, one of the most prominent leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
He became the second president of the Kurdistan region after Massoud Barzani, who held the post since 2005 head of the region, until the failure of the referendum on the independence of the region end of 2017.
This comes at a time announced by the Ministry of Defense of Turkey, yesterday, that the army launched an operation targeting Kurdish insurgents in northern Iraq, carried out by special forces supported by artillery and aviation.
The ministry said in a statement that the operation began with artillery and another aerial attack, the day before yesterday.
In Baghdad, a court sentenced two French nationals to death after being convicted of belonging to a "da'ash", raising the number to six French nationals.
For his part, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Laudrian, that his country is stepping up its efforts to spare four French extremists the death penalty in Iraq, to be convicted of belonging to «Da'ash».