Iraq Will Not Be ‘Mere Spectator’ to Syria Crisis, PM Says
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani warned that “Iraq will not be a mere spectator to the grave repercussions of the events taking place in Syria, especially acts of ethnic cleansing of racial and religious communities there,” in a readout of his phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
During the conversation, Sudani said events in Syria serve the interests of “the Zionist entity,” which he accused of deliberately bombing Syrian army sites in a way that allowed terrorist groups to seize additional territory.
The statement comes amid reports from Iraqi and Syrian security sources that hundreds of Iraqi Shi’ite militia fighters crossed into Syria on Sunday to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. However, the Popular Mobilisation Forces, which oversees major Iraqi Shi’ite militia groups aligned with Iran, denied any deployment of its members to Syria.
The recent rebel advance in Aleppo, described as their most significant in years, reportedly faced minimal resistance. Sources attribute this partly to the withdrawal of Lebanon’s Hezbollah forces from Syria to focus on their ongoing conflict with Israel along the Lebanese border.
Israel has intensified its strikes on what it identifies as Iran-aligned military targets in Syria over the past 14 months, concurrent with its conflicts against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government maintains close ties with Iran, a key ally of Assad’s regime, and Iraqi militia fighters have previously supported Assad’s forces during the Syrian conflict.
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