SHAFAQNA – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has called for increased regional cooperation in the battle against the Takfiri ISIL militant group.
Speaking during a joint press conference with UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on Thursday, Abadi said that Iraqi forces have managed to achieve great victories on the ground in the fight against ISIL.
He said that the government in Baghdad has reached out to all political factions inside the country as well as authorities in neighboring states to garner support for the battle against the terrorists.
Abadi called on the US-led alliance that purports to be fighting the ISIL to provide Iraqi forces with more military training and weapons to battle the Takfiri group.
The Iraqi prime minister also said his country’s economy has been hit hard by the fall in oil prices, expressing worries that lower revenues from oil sales could hurt Iraq’s military campaign against the ISIL.
“We don’t want to see a reverse of our military victory due to our fiscal and budget problems,” Abadi said.
Kerry, for his part, asserted that half of ISIL leaders have been killed since August 2014, when Washington and some of its allies started airstrikes against what they say are ISIL positions in Iraq.
The 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.
The terrorists have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against all Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.
The Iraqi army, backed by pro-government tribes, Shia volunteers and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, has so far managed to make significant gains in the fight against the terrorists.
Source:PressTV
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