Certain States ‘Funding, Organizing’ ISIL: Iran MPs

Tehran, July 21, IRNA - Two senior members of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee commented on the terrorist group of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) saying that their brutal activities pose threats and insecurity for regional countries. In an exclusive interview with ˈIran Dailyˈ published Monday, MP Hassan Kamran Dastjerdi said that certain regional and Western states created the ISIL by “funding and organizing” the terrorists. He added that the Takfiri group overran cities in northern Iraq last month through the “supports of these countries.” Dastjerdi noted that the “inability of Iraqi forces to counter ISIL offensives and treason of a group of military personnel” prepared the ground for the takeover of northern Iraq by the terrorist group. The lawmaker also noted that a call by Iraq’s top Shia religious authority Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to arm Iraq civilians against the terrorists and the mobilization of Iraqis have prevented the advancement of ISIL to other parts of Iraq. “Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose,” Sistani said on June 13. The crisis in Iraq escalated after the ISIL terrorists took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, on June 10. The takeover was followed by occupation of parts of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers northwest of the capital, Baghdad. Kurdish independence Dastjerdi added: “The Iraqi nation already faces two major problems; the ISIL and a call for the creation of an independent Kurdish state.” Referring to ISIL’s move to announce its notorious leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “the caliph” and the leader of the Muslim World, Dastjerdi said that “ISIL is an extremist group in the region and no regional nation wants the continuation of its presence in Iraq and Syria.” Known for its ruthless tactics and suicide bombers, the ISIL terrorist group has carried out frequent bombings and shootings in Iraq and Syria. The United Nations said in a new report on Friday that more than 5,570 people have been killed in Iraq since January. “As the Afghan nation fought the extremist groups such as Taliban in Afghanistan and prevented the progress of terrorism in their country, Iraqis will also prevent the murderous acts of ISIL in Iraq,” Dastjerdi added. The MP noted that the Kurdish officials who seek independence from Iraq will not reach their goals because “the Iraqi nation and certain regional countries like Iran and Iraq are against the partition of Iraq.” Following the ISIL offensives in Iraq, the semi-autonomous Kurdistan officials said that arrangements are being made for a referendum on Kurdistan’s future within months. However, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has rejected the attempt by the Kurdistan Regional Government to hold the independence referendum, saying the move is unconstitutional and will “damage them a lot.” Another lawmaker Ebrahim Aqa Mohammad also told the English-language paper that the ISIL was “created” by the US to grow insecurity in the region. Declaration of an Islamic caliphate by the ISIL is an American and anti-Islamic plot, he said. Aqa Mohammad added that the terrorist group is trying to “tarnish the image of Islam” by committing crimes against humanity in the name of the “Islamic State.” The parliamentarian concluded by saying that the terrorist group is doomed to fail in the face of efforts of Muslim nations although it has imposed heavy cost on Iraq and Syria. The ISIL has seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in recent months and announced establishment of a so-called “Islamic State” in the occupied lands. The terrorist group explicitly seeks to eradicate the modern Iraqi and Syrian states, both by effectively erasing the joint border and by replacing the institutions of both states with their own radical Takfiri faith./end