Iraq warns of ISIS increasing risks

The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, warned of the increasing risks of ISIS in the country, and stressed that "its activities escalated than few months ago."

27 November, 2020 08:31

NEWS DESK

On his visit to Moscow, Hussein said on Thursday that "the terrorist organization exists and has become more active, unfortunately," noting that "its activities increased than they were a few months ago."

The Iraqi minister clarified that his country's government has "information indicating that the organization is present in certain areas of the governorates of Anbar, Kirkuk, Diyala, and in some areas of Nineveh."

The Iraqi Defense Minister, Jumah Anad, announced last week that the number of ISIS mercenaries in Baghdad and the northern province of Babel is about 2,000, a number that the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee described as a "dangerous matter."

A member of the Security and Defense Committee in the Iraqi Parliament, Karim Aliwi, commented on the statement of the Minister of Defense, saying: "The statement of the Minister of Defense needs a pause and follow-up of the security and intelligence services." She sleeps in Baghdad and the north of Babel Governorate, specifically in the Jurf al-Nasr area, but she does not have the real number."

Of note, the last strongholds of ISIS mercenaries were liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria, specifically in Al-Baghouz in Deir Ezzor countryside, in March 2018.

J.O