Abadi: Iraq coordinating with Syria for border control

(IraqiNews.com)  Baghdad – Iraq is coordinating with Syria to control their common borders, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday as reports suggest that Islamic State militants could attempt to flee battles in Iraq to the Syrian city of Raqqa.

“It is for Iraq’s best to deal with the Syrian government rather than with a group of militants,” Abadi said in a press statement in Baghdad, possibly referring to armed groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Commenting on the decisive battle to liberate Nineveh, ISIS’s last stronghold in Iraq, Abadi said his government has plans ready for the administration of Nineveh after its liberation. “Conditions there will be better than before…all troops participating in operation ‘We Are Coming, Nineveh’ will return to their bases after liberation.”

Asked whether he intends to assign a military governor for Nineveh after the end of battles, the prime minister responded negatively. “There is no such intention; there is a governorate council and a local administration in Nineveh. We have already formed a supreme committee to coordinate works at the liberated areas.”

Repeating his criticisms of Turkey’s military presence in Nineveh, Abadi referred to what he described as “Turkish instigation, escalation and false allegations towards Iraq.” He stressed that “There is no pretext for Turkish intervention in Iraq,” adding that “Turks want to blame their domestic problems on Iraq.”

Turkish participation in the Mosul liberation campaign is “a false allegation,” according to Abadi.

Commenting on recent reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on the deportation of Arab residents of Kirkuk by Kurdish authorities, Abadi said he disapproves of “any insult to citizens in Kikuk,” vowing accountability for violators in that respect. “Burning villages and demolishing homes is unacceptable. It is not permissible to take revenge from citizens for actions done by ISIS.”