US-Iraq talks address IS threat

Iraqi’s Prime Minister-designate Haider Al-Abadi yesterday “stressed the need to dry up terrorists resources in Iraq and the region in order to maintain stability as Iraq is currently facing an enemy that uses all criminal and inhuman methods,” and called on the international community to cooperate with his country against Islamic State (IS) fighters.

Al-Abadi’s statements came during his meeting in Baghdad with the US Central Command Gen. Lloyd Austin, wherein they discussed the security situation in Iraq and the region in general and IS’s threat in particular, according to a statement issued by the prime minister’s office.

He added that Iraq “is currently facing an enemy that uses all criminal and inhumane methods, which requires international cooperation as well as the formation of an international system for tracking down and eliminating terrorism.”

The US General expressed his country’s “readiness to help Iraq in the security field and in training Iraqi forces.”

“There is a noticeable improvement in the Iraqi forces’ performance and their ability to launch successful attacks on IS positions,” Austin said.

Turmoil has prevailed in areas across the north and west of Iraq since the Islamic State, along with Sunni insurgents allied with it, seized control of large parts of the province of Nineveh on June 10 after the Iraqi army withdrew without resistance, leaving behind large quantities of weapons and equipment.

The same was repeated in cities in the Salahuddin province, the city of Kirkuk, the Diyala province, and the Anbar province in western Iraq which had fallen to IS fighters months earlier.