“The presence of senior Iranian commanders and advisors in Iraq to form the popular forces was highly important and I have announced this twice before that Qassem Soleimani acts like a factory manufacturing Iraqi men and if he weren’t there, there would be no one to display the Iraqi people’s bravery,” Seyed Hamed Jazzayeri, the commander of Hashd al-Sha’abi’s Brigade 18, told FNA on Tuesday.
Asked if Iran trains the Iraqi popular forces in or outside Iraq, he said, “Naturally, transferring thousands of forces from a country to another is not easy and therefore, the Iranian trainers and officials are transferred from Iran to Iraq as it is easier.”
Jazzayeri expressed pleasure in the Iraqi army and popular forces’ advances and progress to put an end to ISIL’s occupation of the country, and said, “God willing, we will fully liberate Iraq by the end of 2016.”
Elsewhere, he voiced happiness in the expulsion of the anti-Iran Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR) terrorist group from Iraq, and said the MKO’s advisors have been fighting alongside the ISIL terrorists in Syria.
The Iranian officials have always underlined support for Iraq in the fight against the ISIL terrorists.
Last month, Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Danayeefar in a meeting with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad renewed his country’s support for the Iraqi government and nation in their ongoing war against the terrorist groups.
During the meeting, Danayeefar and al-Maliki discussed the latest developments in the war on terrorism and also reviewed political and security situation of Iraq.
Al-Maliki, for his part, pointed to the Nineveh liberation operation and the military operations in its center of Mosul, and said, “The Iraqi forces, including army, Hashd al-Shaabi (volunteer forces) and Kurdish Peshmerga forces are resolved to put an end to Daesh (ISIL) presence in Iraq, particularly after the recent victories in al-Khalediya Island in Anbar province and al-Qayyara to the South of Mosul city.
The former Iraqi Prime Minister, meantime, thanked Iran for rendering support for the Iraqi government and nation in their war against terrorist groups.
In relevant remarks in late August, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani renewed his country’s support for the territorial integrity of Iraq.
“Iran is absolutely opposed to disintegration of Iraq, a position supported by high clerical order in Iraq,” Larijani said in a meeting with Leader of Iraq’s Hezbollah al-Nujaba Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi in Tehran.
Al-Kaabi, for his part, hailed Iran’s support for the Iraqi government and nation, and said, “I express my humble gratitude to the Iranian people and Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) who stand by our side.”
He reiterated that Iranians have sacrificed in Iraq by fighting along their fellow Iraqi and Syrian soldiers in the battle against the terrorist groups.
