Iran offers to aid Iraq in war on terrorism

A senior commander of the Iranian Armed Forces said Tehran is ready to provide Iraq with logistical backup to help the Muslim neighboring nation in its war on terrorism. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces for Logistics and Industrial Research General Mohammad Hejazi pointed to some reports by some Iraqi newspapers that Iraq has asked for Iran’s help to confront the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, and said, “I am not informed of any such demand, but if Iraq asks for consultation or equipment aid, we will provide it.” Tensions have been rising over the past few weeks in Anbar, a province that makes up a third of Iraq's territory along the Euphrates River. The army launched a major operation in Anbar to flush out Al-Qaeda militants after an attack killed at least 18 soldiers, including an army commander on December 21. Clashes broke out Monday in the Ramadi area, West of Baghdad, as security forces dismantled a protest camp where demonstrators had gathered for more than a year. Ten militants died in the fighting, which also spread to the nearby city of Fallujah. Protests broke out in the area in December 2012 after the arrest of the guards of then-finance minister, Rafa al-Essawi, on terrorism charges. The Iraqi premier had described the protest site as “a headquarters for the leadership of Al-Qaeda,” and urged the protesters to leave the camps. Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Askari told state television the decision to remove the camp came after tribal leaders and local government and defense ministry officials reached a deal. As tensions are high in Iraq, Al-Qaeda and its branches, including the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as the ISIS) which is notorious for its daily massacre, beheading and mutilation of civilians, militaries and members of rival rebel groups in Syria, have staged an all-out war on Baghdad to come in control in al-Anbar to separate it from the mainland and declare the Iraqi province as a new world country under Al-Qaeda Caliphate. Earlier today, security sources in Baghdad announced that Saudi Arabia has hired and financed al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to fight a proxy war against Iraq's Shiite government. “Ahmed al-Alwani (an Iraqi MP held on terrorism charges after clashes killed at least six people during arrest raid on his home) and Ali al-Sulaiman (the chief of the Dulaim tribes in al-Anbar province) who are under prosecution have paved the political ground for terrorism and the ISIL has entered a proxy war to fight for Saudi Arabia,” Head of the Security Committee of Baghdad province’s Council Sa’d al-Matlabi was quoted as saying by the Palestinian al-Manar weekly on Sunday. He said that al-Alwani who was arrested by the security forces and al-Sulaiman who has called for Jihad against the Iraqi army have created a ground for the spread of terrorism. In relevant remarks on Tuesday, Aliyah Nassif, a member of the De-Ba'athification Commission, said that al-Alwani and former Iraqi Finance Minister Rafi al-Issawi have had contacts with the Saudi intelligence agency. Nassif said that a number of Iraqi politicians have good relations with certain regional states, and some countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, spend huge sums of money to support them. Late December, the Iraqi police forces in the Central province of Babel increased security measures to prevent the infiltration of ISIL from neighboring al-Anbar province. “Intensive security measures have been adopted in the Northern parts of Babel province to this end and these measures have even been strengthened with the assistance and presence of the army and police task force units,” Babel Police Commander Abbas Abd Zeid Shamran told FNA at the time. He said that the intensive security measures have been adopted after Babel police department received tips about infiltration of ISIL terrorists from Anbar province to Babel. Shamran explained that the ISIL members join other terrorist groups in Iraq which are not so much active now, but their possible future plans and actions have worried Iraq's officials. In a relevant report in dEcember, security and intelligence forces in Iraq’s Northern Neynava province warned that there is an imminent threat of a huge attack by the ISIL on Mosul’s security and intelligence departments. Iraqi security forces said in early December that the terrorist group plans to set free its arrested members kept in Mosul’s security and intelligence offices. The warning by Neynava security and intelligence departments came after the ISIL terrorists attacked Kirkouk’s intelligence department. Mosul is a city in Northern Iraq and the capital of the Neynava Province, some 400 km Northwest of Baghdad. Mosul is Iraq's second largest city after Baghdad. Later in December, a Salafi Sheikh disclosed that the ISIL has recruited many former intelligence officers of Iraq. “Abu Iman Al-Araqi, ISIL commander in Lattakia, is a former Iraqi intelligence officer” working under Saddam Hussein's Ba'th party, Syrian Salafi Sheikh Adnan Al-Arour said in a televised interview. Al-Arour said that Al-Araqi prepares the Al-Qaeda operatives who come from Saudi Arabia for suicide attacks.