Haider al-Abadi urges international community to expand campaign against extremists to Syria

Описание: (17 Sep 2014) Iraq's prime minister strongly rejected the idea of the US or other nations sending ground forces to his country to help fight the Islamic State group, saying on Wednesday that using foreign troops is "out of the question."
In his first interview with foreign media since taking office on Sept. 8, Haider al-Abadi told The Associated Press that the US aerial campaign currently targeting the militants who have overrun much of northern and western Iraq has helped efforts to roll back the Sunni extremists.
He also urged the international community to go after the group in neighbouring Syria, saying the battle will prove endless unless the militants are wiped out there as well.
The US hopes to pull together a broad coalition to help defeat the extremist group, but has ruled out cooperating with neighbouring Iran or Syria, both of which also view the Islamic State group as a threat.
Both countries were excluded from a conference this week in Paris that brought the US, France and other allies together to discuss how to address the militant threat.
Al-Abadi said that excluding Damascus and Tehran was counterproductive.
"I actually find it puzzling that we hold a conference in Paris to help Iraq and to fight terrorism and here we are, it's the biggest neighbour of Iraq, Iran, is excluded," he said. "That puts me as a prime minister in Iraq in a very difficult position."
Al-Abadi, a Shiite lawmaker who faces the enormous task of trying to hold Iraq together as a vast array of forces threaten to rip it apart, welcomed the emerging international effort, but stressed that he sees no need for other nations to send troops to help fight the Islamic State.


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