The Hungarian troops serving in Iraq are “as safe as soldiers can be”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at his year-opening press conference on Thursday.
Some of the military bases with Hungarian soldiers have suffered missile attacks, the prime minister said, adding that none of them has been injured. He added that a high-ranking officer has arrived in Iraq and is now in command of the Hungarian mission.
All conditions are in place to evacuate the Hungarian troops, if necessary, Orbán said, but added that the Hungarian soldiers are in Iraq on basis of a bilateral agreement, and they will “continue meeting their obligations” until the Iraqi government terminates that accord.
He said Hungary’s foreign minister is scheduled to attend a meeting with his EU counterparts on Friday in an effort to agree on a joint European position on the conflict.
In the featured photo: PM Orbán. Photo by Zoltán Máthé/MTI