Iraqi PM terms rise of ISIS global failure, calls for more support against ISIS

Europe, Middle East, News June 2, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Anti-ISIS coalition makes little progress at Paris meeting

The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has described the rapid advance of Isis as a “failure of the world” and criticised other countries for not doing enough to stop the terror group in its tracks.

He was addressing at a meeting in Paris where U.S., European and Middle Eastern officials gathered on Tuesday to discuss how to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius hosted the talks, which also focused on ways to cut off ISIS finances and stop its influence from spreading. The group controls up to 80 per cent of oil fields in Syria and sells looted antiquities to acquire a major source of its funding, sometimes for seven figure sums. It has amassed an estimated wealth of up to $2 billion.

Ministers from 22 countries are meeting in Paris today to discuss progress to date on halting the advance of ISIS.

The meeting in Paris of top officials from Iraq and 20 countries – including the US and France, but not Russia, Iran or Syria – comes weeks after the IS group conquered both the Iraqi city of Ramadi and the historic Syrian city of Palmyra.

More than 4,100 airstrikes by the US-led coalition have failed to stem the territorial gains by IS fighters.

Iraq’s Prime Minister told reporters that hundreds of crack foreign fighters had flooded into Iraq in recent weeks to join ISIS.

“They have brought hundreds of new fighters, well trained, well armed, very good networking,” says Haidar al-Abadi before Tuesday’s talks began. “We are trying very hard on our part, but this is a transnational organization. It needs all the intelligence of the world, and we are not getting much.”

Iraqi PM describes advance of ISIS as a “failure of the world”

The Iraqi Prime Minister has described the rapid advance of ISIS as a “failure of the world” and criticized other countries for not doing enough to stop the terror group in its tracks.

“To be honest, we need a lot of political work on the part of the coalition countries. We need an explanation why there are so many terrorists from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, Egypt … European countries. If it is due to the political situation in Iraq, why are Americans, French and German (fighters) in Iraq?” he asked reporters ahead of the meeting.

“It is failure on the part of the world. We are trying to do our part, but Daesh [an Arabic acronym for Isis] was not created in Iraq.”

Baghdad has received little in the way of ammunition and arms despite coalition pledges, he continued, forcing Iraq to “rely on ourselves” as it waits for UN approval to buy weapons from Iran.

Iraqi PM calls for more support against ISIS

The new Iraqi army will not be enough on its own to defeat ISIS in Iraq. Abadi said his most important need was an increase in aerial surveillance from U.S. planes, to spot ISIS on the move. “Surveillance is very small,” he said. “Daesh is mobile, they move in very small groups. They can gather somewhere else, and attack,” he said. “They are not seen by coalition partners.”

As the U.S.-led coalition plows more money into bolstering Iraq’s military, Abadi knows that his pleas for more arms and ammunition will be met with close scrutiny as Western officials weigh how to best battle to beat ISIS. But the Iraqi Prime Minister argues that the West cannot afford to ignore his calls for more help despite the problems his government has in managing its military. “The danger…is huge,” he says. ISIS “is creating a new generation of fighters, ,” he said. “They prepared to die, but they want to win.”