The Iraqi military announced that it would begin to share “security and intelligence” information on ISIS with Iran, Russia, and Syria, a move that further muddies the waters in the war against Islamic State. Iran and Russia have already agreed to fight “terrorists” in Syria, which could mean that Russia’s commitment to President Assad might include fighting the non-ISIS rebels supported by the US. As far as Assad is concerned, anyone who opposes him is a terrorist. But the de facto alliance of Russia, Syria, Iran, and Iraq will strengthen the hand of President Assad as the US is being shunted to the side in the fight against ISIS. ABC News: A statement issued by the Joint Operations Command said the countries will “help and cooperate in collecting information about the terrorist Daesh group,” using the Arabic acronym for the IS group. Iraq has long had close ties with neighboring Iran and has coordinated with Tehran in fighting IS — which controls about a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared caliphate. Iran has sent military advisers to Iraq and worked closely with Shiite militias battling the IS group. A U.S.-led coalition has meanwhile been conducting airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria as well as training and advising Iraqi forces, but U.S. officials insist they are not coordinating their efforts with Iran. The U.S. also refuses to cooperate with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who Washington has insisted should step
All Related | More on Iraq |
from Breaking News http://ift.tt/1FBVUpz
No comments:
Post a Comment