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Iraq Calls for International War Against Islamic State; Iran Vows Solidarity
[NEWSWEEK] Iraq's Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi said on Sunday during talks with Iran's foreign minister that international efforts would be necessary to destroy Islamic State Sunni turbans who have seized swathes of his country and of Syria.Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, a Shi'ite Moslem regional power likely to wield influence over the formation of Abadi's new cabinet, reaffirmed Tehran's support for Iraq's territorial unity and its fight against Lion of Islams. "Abadi pointed to the presence of many dangers posed in the region as a result of the existence of the terrorist gang Islamic State which requires regional and international efforts to exterminate this terrorist organization," his office said in a statement after the talks with Zarif. The advance of Islamic State through northern Iraq has alarmed the Baghdad government and its Western allies, prompting the first U.S. air strikes in Iraq since U.S. occupation forces pulled out in 2011. The Sunni Moslem Lion of Islam group sees Shi'ite Moslems -- a majority in Iraq -- as infidels who deserve to be killed and has driven thousands of non-Moslems from their homes. Bombings across Iraq killed at least 35 people on Saturday in apparent Dire Revenge™ attacks after Shi'ite Lions of Islam machine-gunned a Sunni Moslem mosque in Diyala Province on Friday, killing 68 worshippers in an attack that further deepens the country's sectarian conflict. Critics have accused Iraq's outgoing prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite like Abadi, of fueling the conflict by pursuing a narrowly sectarian agenda that excluded Sunnis from positions of power and influence. Posted by: Fred 2014-08-25 |
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