US will help ICC probe of genocide by Daesh in Syria, Iraq: WH

The White House says the US is ready to work with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in any possible probe into the genocide committed by the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

"The United States will cooperate with independent efforts to investigate genocide," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday.

Earnest added that the administration of President Barack Obama is willing to support the ICC in collecting evidence.

Earlier on Thursday, the United States declared that Daesh is committing “genocide” against religious minorities, particularly Shia Muslims, Christians, and Izadi Kurds in Iraq and Syria, and vowed to halt it.

"The ICC is typically the organization that would take a look at this, and given the judgment that Secretary (of State John) Kerry has made, the United States would be supportive of that effort, both rhetorically, but also in a tangible way as well," said Earnest.

"The United States will support efforts to collect documents, preserve and analyze evidence of atrocities and the United States will do all we can to ensure perpetrators of these atrocities are held to account and brought to justice,” he added.

The United States is not party to the ICC, but the Obama administration has started a policy of cooperating with the court.

Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria.

They have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Izadi Kurds, and Christians, in the areas under their control.

Since March 2011, the US and its regional allies, in particular Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, have been conducting a proxy war against the Syrian people and government.

The years-long conflict has left somewhere between 270,000 to 470,000 Syrians dead and nearly half of the country’s population displaced.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk