OREANDA-NEWS  The North Atlantic Alliance is considering the possibility of deploying security and defense advisory missions in a number of countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the Sahel region, the EFE news agency wrote on Friday, citing NATO sources.

According to them, the group of experts prepared a corresponding recommendation after a request from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

It is expected that this issue will be considered by NATO later in May, and the initiative may be finally approved at the July summit of the alliance in Washington.

According to the sources, the goal of this strategy is "to contribute to world peace through cooperation with partners outside the geographical space (NATO - IF)."

According to sources, it is proposed to create missions similar to the one that NATO currently has in Iraq.

EFE explains, citing sources, that the initiative, if implemented, will enhance NATO's political dialogue with a number of countries. The authors of the initiative also hope that the missions will allow them to influence how the people of the Middle East and Africa perceive the North Atlantic Alliance.

"We are also talking about countering anti-Western statements from Russia and a number of countries located south of NATO," writes EFE.

A NATO advisory mission is currently deployed in Iraq. According to the alliance, it aims to "help strengthen Iraqi security institutions and Iraqi forces so that they themselves can prevent the return of the Islamic State (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation), fight terrorism and maintain stability in the country." The mission was established in October 2018.