Terrorists in Iraq, Syria Emboldened by US: MP
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A prominent Iranian lawmaker blamed the US and its regional allies for propping up the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.
“Empowerment of the terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq and extension of the range of their activities in the region is the result of the supports given by the US and its regional allies over the past years,” Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said.
He made the comments in a meeting with Head of the French Parliament's Defense Commission Patricia Adam in Tehran.
The French legislator, for her part, touched on the tense conditions in the Middle East, and said Paris is mindful of the threats that the terrorist groups pose to the world peace.
She added that the French parliament plans to pass new legislation to prevent the French citizens from joining the terrorist groups.
Thousands of foreign fighters, many from Western Europe, have joined terrorist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, according to US and European intelligence estimates.
France has made clamping down on radicalized cells a priority, but has not been able to stem a wave of its citizens and others, some as young as 14, from leaving France to join the Syrian civil war.
It estimates that approximately 800 of its citizen have left to join terrorist groups in Syria.
The ISIL is a militant group in Iraq and Syria believed to be supported by the West and some regional and Arab countries. The terrorist group claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.
