(VOVworld) – Iraq ruled out any foreign ground intervention to help government forces retake territory lost to jihadists and urged Sunnis to give up such hopes, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi told reporters on Monday.
"No ground forces from any superpower, international coalition or regional power will fight here", said Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. |
He insisted that no ground forces from any superpower, international coalition, or regional power will fight in Iraq. He urged people in Anbar and Salaheddin province, which are Sunni majority provinces, to stop asking for foreign troops.
Abadi was speaking after a rare meeting with the most revered figure among Iraqi Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who earlier allowed foreign intervention in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), but requested strict rules. Prime Minister al-Abadi left for Iran on Monday to discuss ways to combat the IS, which has seized large areas within a few kilometers of Iran.