Director General of the Iraqi Company for Airports and Air Navigation Management, Ehab Karim, announced on Friday that the military air zones listed in the Iraqi aeronautical information publication are no longer used for military operations. Karim pointed out that "all areas that were reserved in the western part of the country (from north to south) have been handed over to the Company for Airports and Air Navigation Management, to be used for civil aviation." The Iraqi official emphasized that "this highly important progress was achieved in full coordination with the director of the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Abdul Amir al-Shammari, and as a result of institutional and technical efforts that lasted several years to raise the efficiency and smoothness of air navigation traffic." The mentioned areas were closed to civil aviation for security reasons between 2016 and 2017. Karim explained that the new procedures "pave the way for completing the removal of these areas, and updating the Iraqi aeronautical information publication to be announced to international airlines."