Iraq rules out foreign boots on ground

Najaf, ( Iraq), Oct. 20: Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar alAbadi on Monday ruled out any foreign ground intervention to assist government forces in retaking territory lost to jihadists and urged Sunnis to give up such hopes.

Mr Abadi was speaking in the city of Najaf after a rare meeting with the most revered figure among Iraqi Shias, Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani, and before a trip to neighbouring Iran.

“No ground forces from any superpower, international coalition or regional power will fight here,” Mr Abadi told reporters, reiterating previous remarks on the issue.

“This is my decision, it is the decision of the Iraqi government.”

Some officials and Sunni tribal leaders in areas most affected by the unrest have argued the world should step up its involvement from airstrikes to a ground intervention against the ISIS jihadist group.

“I am telling our brothers in Anbar and Salaheddin ( Sunni majority provinces) who asked for foreign ground troops that such an appeal should not be made for two reasons,” Mr Abadi said. “We don’t need foreign combat troops. And there is no country in the world which would be willing to fight here and give you back your land even if they were asked to.”

The Prime Minister, from Iraq’s Shia majority, had just met with Ayatollah Sistani, a reclusive Iranian- born cleric who is the highest Shia religious authority in the country.

— AFP