Iraqi PM, U.S. VP discuss Syria, anti-IS war in phone call

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence discussed the situation in Syria and the war on the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in a phone call, the Iraqi government said on Saturday.

A statement by Abadi's office said that the prime minister received a phone call from Pence, and the two sides discussed the battles in Mosul and the international support to Iraq in its fighting against terrorism, as well as the situations in the region.

Abadi expressed Iraq's attitude toward the situation in Syria, saying "Iraq considers the use of chemical weapons in Syria a condemned and denounced crime," according to the statement.

"We are with the Syrian people who were the victims, just like the Iraqi people who were also victims of being hit with chemical weapons by the former (Saddam) regime," the statement quoted Abadi as saying.

Abadi called for an urgent international investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria and to condemn whoever used such weapons, the statement added.

Abadi asserted on the importance of focusing on the defeat of the extremist IS group "as we are close to the final victory," it said.

For his part, Pence stressed in his call that his country's policy in the region "has not changed, and our priority is a decisive defeat for Daesh (IS group) in Iraq and the region," the statement added.

On Friday, the United States carried out missile strike on a Syrian military airbase in response to what it believes was a chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun, a rebel-held town in the northwestern Syrian Idlib. Endit