Ayatollah Sistani backs efforts to rid Iraq of ISIL

Top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has voiced his all-out support for the measures taken to liberate Iraqi territories from ISIL elements.

This was announced by the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who said the grand Ayatollah has said he is standing by the government and volunteer forces in their efforts to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group.

Ayatollah Sistani has also emphasized that all security forces and volunteer forces should operate under the control of the central government, al-Abadi stated.

The prime minister met with Ayatollah Sistani and a number of other senior clerics in the holy city of Najaf on Friday.

The ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of the northern city of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland, IQNA reported.

The terrorists have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations, against all Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have succeeded in driving the ISIL terrorists out of some areas in Iraq.