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11/21/2024 10:07:32 pm

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Iraqi Prime Minister Welcomes U.S.-Led Airstrikes In Syria

U.S. Airstrikes Against Islamic State

(Photo : Reuters) The United States named the coalition campaign against the Islamic State group Operation Inherent Resolve on Wednesday, October 15, 2014.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday he is pleased with the airstrikes mounted by the United States and its Arab partners against the Islamic State in Syria, but insisted they do not tackle the militant group their own way.

The Islamic State, also called Daesh in Arabic which resonates with a term used to describe bigots who impose their views on others, have used the momentum of the Syrian civil war to gain foothold in the region. The group has been brutalizing large territories in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to carve out a Sharia court-ruled nation in the region.  

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The Iraqi people have paid the price of polarization and instability in the region, al-Abadi told CNN. The extremists' presence in the region has inflicted so much loss and suffering among Iraqis when the terror group crossed its border, he added. It has reportedly performed an unaccounted number of beheadings, crucifixions and genocides as it moved across Iraq and its adjoining state, Syria.

Al-Abadi expressed hope that the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State military campaign will deliver on President Barack Obama's promise to weaken and eventually destroy the extremist group.

The air campaign has so far launched 190 air raids since it began six weeks ago, with the first wave of overnight airstrikes in Syria on Monday adding another 20 targets to the coalition ledger.

Al-Abadi also hailed the cooperation of Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the international coalition that seeks to beat back the hardliner Sunni extremists. However, he said, he wished they had understood the gravity of the situation sooner and acted upon it.

He said he had warned regional powers that bloodbath would ensue if the group brandishing themselves as caliphate-establishing jihadists were not stopped, but nobody listened, the newly installed prime minister told CNN.

The terror group has seized 25 percent of Iraqi territory in the western and northern regions. Al-Abadi is concerned that the terror group is threatening to move closer to its capital city, Bahgdad. 

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