ISIL soldiers of fortune fighting US war in Iraq: Analyst

The only way for Iraq’s ongoing crisis to end is for the US government to stop supporting Takfiri “mercenaries” wreaking havoc on the war-wracked country, an analyst writes for Press TV.

In an article for the Press TV website, Finian Cunningham said the US and its NATO and Arab allies are providing support for the terrorist militants of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“The most effective way to end the violence in Iraq is for Washington and its allies to stop fuelling the proxy ISIL mercenaries and their war of terror in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the region,” the analyst wrote.

He said the continued support for the “ISIL proxy” militants risks triggering a “crippling counterinsurgency war.”

Cunningham said Washington’s lack of seriousness in finding an effective solution to the Iraqi crisis “shows that their purported concerns for Iraq are not genuine.”

The analyst added that the US is portraying the ISIL militants as “enemies of the West” while two weeks ago it was supplying anti-tank missiles to them in Syria.

“ISIL is a proxy for Washington and its Western and Arab allies to wage covert war in the region for strategic objectives,” Cunningham noted, adding, “That proxy force has been directed primarily at destabilizing Syria with the objective of regime change against the Damascus government of President Bashar al Assad.”

Over the past days, Iraqi armed forces have been engaged in fierce clashes with the ISIL terrorists, who have threatened to take their acts of violence to several Iraqi cities, including the capital, Baghdad.

However, their advance has been slowed down as Iraqi military forces and volunteer fighters have begun engaging them on several fronts, in some cases even pushing the militants out of the areas they had earlier overrun.