ISIL Fight Impossible without Iran: Iraqi Commander
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Commander of Iraq’s Badr Brigade said the Arab country’s battle against the ISIL terrorist group would get nowhere without Iran’s backing.
“We believe that countering the ISIL is not possible except with the support offered by the Islamic Republic of Iran and the resistance shown by the country’s people,” Hadi al-Ameri told reporters in Tehran on Monday.
He also noted that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi owes the formation of his government to Iran’s support.
The Iraqi commander made the comments on the sidelines of a memorial service held in Tehran to commemorate Iranian military advisor, General Hamid Taqavi, who was killed recently in the Iraqi city of Samarrah during an advisory mission.
A one-time commander during the 8-year Iraqi imposed war on Iran in the 1980s, General Taqavi lost his life in Samarrah while performing an advisory mission in the fight against the ISIL and Takfiri terrorists.
Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the ISIL terrorist group.
The ISIL militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq in summer 2014, after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the popular forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
Amid tensions in Iraq, Iran has always voiced support for Iraq’s solidarity and prosperity.