Iraq thanks Iran for anti-ISIL assistance
Iraq’s president has expressed his gratitude to Tehran for helping the country fight the Takfiri terrorist group ISIL.
“Iran is a neighboring country with more than 1,000 kilometers of common border with Iraq and has helped us a lot in the war against the criminals of Daesh (an Arabic acronym for ISIL),” Fuad Masum said in a TV interview.
On Tuesday, Iraq’s First Vice President Nouri al-Maliki said following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Es’haq Jahangiri in Baghdad that the Islamic Republic had played a “historic” and “effective” role in helping the Iraqi military forces drive back ISIL terrorists.
Baghdad and the northern Kurdish city of Erbil would have fallen into the hands of Takfiris if Iran had not rushed to help Iraq, Maliki said.
Iran has repeatedly stressed that it will not interfere militarily in Iraq and Syria, but that it will continue to provide support for both countries against ISIL in the form of defense consultation and humanitarian aid.
ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.
Masum also said, “A decisive victory over Daesh terrorists is possible in some regions, but is difficult in some other regions like Mosul because terrorists are present in the city and among the people and it is not rational that the city be bombarded as it will have terrible consequences and lead to a tremendous rise in the number of civilian casualties.”
HN/NN/AS
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