Current tension between Iraq, Syria to affect Kurdistan- official

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: An official from the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG) on Wednesday said that the ongoing tension between the Iraqi and Syrian governments will cast a shadow over the situation in the northern region. “The (Kurdistan) region is part of Iraq. All political tensions in the country will therefore have a direct effect on the situation in the region, especially that Syria has not shown a positive stance toward Iraq,” a statement received by Iraqi News quoted Fallah Mostafa, an official from the foreign relations department in the Kurdistan RegionG, as saying. “The region’s relations with Syria are primarily commercial and economic, rather than political, but the current tensions will affect the region although it is not directly concerned with the problems between Baghdad and Damascus,” Mostafa noted. Iraq had requested the United Nations Security Council to form an international tribunal to investigate a series of bloody blasts that rocked the capital Baghdad and left 95 dead and more than 1,000 wounded persons on August 19, 2009. Iraq accused Baathist leaders in Syria of being behind the blasts. SS (P)/SR 1