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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi yesterday declared that foreign ground troops are neither necessary nor wanted in the battle against the Islamic State (Isis) group.
He flatly rejected the idea after US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey on Tuesday said that US ground troops may be needed if current efforts to combat Isis fail.
Mr Abadi said that US air strikes have been helpful against Isis, but he stressed that putting foreign boots on the ground was out of the question.
“Not only is it not necessary. We don’t want them. We won’t allow them. Full stop.”
The Iraqi PM also urged the international community to expand its campaign against the extremists to neighbouring Syria.
“The fight will go on unless Isis is hit in Syria. This is the responsibility of the international community — on top of them the United States government — to do something about Isis in Syria.”
However, he made clear that any bombing of Isis in Syria must be with the agreement of the government in Damascus.
“We cannot afford to fight our neighbour even if we disagree on many things. This is our neighbour. We don’t want to enter into problems with them.”
Isis issued a 52-second video entitled Flames of War yesterday, which was possibly also intended as a riposte to Gen Dempsey.
It showed Isis forces blowing up tanks, wounded US soldiers and others about to be killed.
It switched to a clip of Barack Obama saying that combat troops would not return to Iraq and ended with a text overlay declaring that the “fighting has just begun.”
Congress members in Washington backed presidential proposals yesterday to give Mr Obama authority to order US military training and arms for what he terms “moderate” rebels confronting both Isis and the Assad government.
This was despite a number of US politicians backing the idea of a more substantial military mobilisation.
“If we want to open a front against Isis in Syria, we have to open a front and I don’t see any other way to do it than try to build an alternative force,” said Democrat Representative Adam Smith.
