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Iraq may ask for Russian air strikes on IS soon

Xinhua, October 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iraq may ask Russia to carry out air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in the country soon, head of the parliament security and defense committee said on Wednesday.

"We might be obliged to request Russia to carry out air strikes in Iraq in the coming few days or weeks, but that will depend on Russia's success in Syria," Hakim al-Zamili told reporters.

"We want to see Russia have greater role, greater than the Americans' role in fighting Daesh (IS group)," Zamili said, adding he believes that the U.S.-led coalition air strikes on IS were ineffective in the past stage.

Late in September, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said Iraq signed an agreement with the three countries of Russia, Iran and Syria, which aimed at forming a security and intelligence center to confront the increasing threat from the IS group in the region.

However, Zamili said that such center will develop in the near future into a joint operations command that would lead the battles against the IS extremist group.

Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that Iraqi would welcome Russian air strikes against the IS, but on condition of a permission by the Iraqi government.

Russia said it will consider extending its air strikes against militants in Syria to those in Iraq if it receives such a request from Baghdad.

Observers see that the extension of Russian air strikes in Syria to Iraq as well as intelligence cooperation with Russia would raise concerns in Washington over Moscow's increasing role in the Middle East.

Russia has already shown a greater military involvement in Syria in recent weeks, in addition to its pressure to include Damascus in the international efforts to counter the IS in the region. Endit