2026-07-19T16:00:53+00:00

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Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s parliamentary Security and Defense Committee
recommended the removal of the naval force commander and two senior officers,
holding the Naval Force Command and the Ministry of Defense fully responsible
for a July 4 incident in which one Iraqi fisherman was killed and another
wounded by Kuwaiti coast guard fire.

According to a committee report, the officers named for
dismissal are Vice Admiral Mazen Abdulwahid Kaiban, commander of the Iraqi
Naval Force; Rear Admiral Wael Abdulmohsen, director of naval operations; and
Rear Admiral Laith Abdulsattar, commander of the Umm Qasr naval base, Iraq’s
principal military port on the Gulf.

Read more: Kuwait consulate in Basra faces protest over Iraqi fisherman’s death

The recommendations follow a hearing the committee convened
on Thursday with military, security, and civilian officials. Documents,
evidence, and the officials’ answers to lawmakers’ questions established that
the incident resulted “from negligence by the Naval Force Command and its
failure to protect Iraqi fishermen inside Iraqi territorial waters.”

According to the report, Kuwaiti personnel opened fire on
Iraqi fishermen inside Iraqi territorial waters on July 4 and detained them.
Fisherman Najm Abdullah Khalid Al-Tamimi was killed and a second fisherman
sustained a head wound. The men were aboard the Iraqi fishing boat Durra.

Four other detainees “were subjected to insult and verbal
abuse by Kuwaiti forces.”

The committee directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
open contacts with the Kuwaiti side to resolve outstanding issues, and asked
the ministry to submit a formal protest memorandum to Kuwait over incidents
involving Iraqi vessels and fishing boats, citing the 1982 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea.

A parliamentary committee, formed with the relevant
government bodies, should follow up on the release of Iraqi fishermen currently
detained or convicted in Kuwait in earlier incidents, and pursue compensation
for confiscated Iraqi boats or demand their return.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry previously said it had raised the
case with Kuwaiti authorities, who presented video footage of the incident and
maintained that their forces had not intended to cause loss of life.