Impossible to exclude Iran from anti-ISIL campaign: Iraq

24 September 2014 | 21:24 Code : 1938810 Latest Headlines

Iraqi President Fuad Masum says it is impossible to freeze the Islamic Republic of Iran out of the US-led campaign against the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group, which is operating inside Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Speaking in a Wednesday interview with London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat ahead of the forthcoming 69th UN General Assembly in New York, the Iraqi leader underscored the need for Tehran’s active involvement in any regional initiative aimed at countering the ISIL.

He said Iran cannot be kept out of the campaign against ISIL terrorists, and that the Baghdad government needs Tehran on its side to fight the Takfiri militants.

Masum further noted that the anti-ISIL fight, regardless of all efforts being made by Iraq and other regional states, will not bear fruit without Iran’s engagement.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the United States and its Arab allies have carried out fresh airstrikes against the ISIL positions near the key Kurdish town of Kobane, also known as Ayn al-Arab, in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.

The raids were carried out just before and after midnight on Wednesday.

Kobane has been under constant threat of ISIL Takfiri militants over the past few months.

According to the spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units, Redur Xelil,  the terrorists, who are seeking to finalize their grip on the region after seizing nearly 60 villages are now between 20 and 30 kilometers (12 and 19 miles) away from Kobane.