Abadi: Iraq Ready to Share ISIS Intel with Iran, Syria

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says his country is ready to share intelligence on ISIS with Russia, Iran, and Syria upon their request.

“We have been fighting ISIS for more than a year and we have some important security information that no other country has regarding ISIS,” Abadi said during a press conference at the presidential office in capital Baghdad on Saturday, adding that there are no obstacles preventing Russia, Iran and Syria from arming the Iraqi army against the Takfiri terrorist group.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iraqi premier said he had the government’s approval to welcome Russia’s air campaign against terrorists inside Iraq.

It is the second time Abadi has welcomed Russians to conduct ant-terror air campaign in Iraq similar to Syria, where they have been engaged in airstrikes on Takfiris since Wednesday.

Impressed by what Russia has done to terrorists in Syria, Abadi said Thursday that he was considering Moscow’s anti-terror presence in his country as “a possibility”, adding “If we get the offer we will consider it and I would welcome it.”

Russia’s response was positive as Ilya Rogachev, a senior foreign ministry official, said that his country would consider launching the strikes if it gets “such a request from the Iraqi government or a Security Council resolution that depends decisively on the will of the Iraq government.”

Meanwhile, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional government, Massoud Barzani, (pictured below) said in statement that “better results” could be achieved in war against ISIS if Russia and the so-called international coalition coordinated their efforts, adding “the Kurdistan region… welcomes Russia if it supports the Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS”.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence since ISIS terrorists began their campaign of terror in the country in June 2014.

According to the United Nations, more than 21,000 Iraqis have lost their lives or sustained injuries due to the acts of violence and terrorism in the embattled Arab country since the beginning of the year.

In a statement released on Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq Fadel Ghraoui pointed to the dramatic rise in the number of ISIS operations against the Iraqi people, noting that a total of 6,238 Iraqis were killed and another 14,933 injured between January 1 and October 1, 2015.

Iraqi army soldiers and volunteer fighters are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations; Press TV reported.