US secretary of state John Kerry warned against the threat and said other nations should stay out.
Meanwhile, a new insurgent artillery offensive against Christian villages in the north of Iraq sent thousands of Christians fleeing from their homes, seeking sanctuary in Kurdish-controlled territory, Associated Press reporters who witnessed the scene said.
The United States government and a senior Iraqi military official confirmed that Syrian warplanes bombed militants' positions Tuesday in and near the border crossing in the town of Qaim. Iraq's other neighbors — Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — were all bolstering flights just inside their airspace to monitor the situation, said the Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
American officials said the target was the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Sunni extremist group that has seized large swathes of Iraq and seeks to carve out a purist Islamic enclave across both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.
"We've made it clear to everyone in the region that we don't need anything to take place that might exacerbate the sectarian divisions that are already at a heightened level of tension," Kerry said, speaking in Brussels at a meeting of diplomats from Nato nations. "It's already important that nothing take place that contributes to the extremism or could act as a flash point with respect to the sectarian divide."
Meanwhile, two US officials said Iran has been flying surveillance drones in Iraq, controlling them from an airfield in Baghdad. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said they believe the drones are surveillance aircraft only, but they could not rule out that they may be armed.
A top Iraqi intelligence official said Iran was secretly supplying the Iraqi security forces with weapons, including rockets, heavy machine guns and multiple rocket launchers. "Iraq is in a grave crisis and the sword is on its neck, so is it even conceivable that we turn down the hand outstretched to us?" said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject......................http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Kerry-issues-warning-after-Syria-bombs-Iraq/articleshow/37223668.cms
26/6/14
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Related:
NATO gives assurances to Turkey over Iraq concerns
Maliki rules out national emergency government (a coup against the constitution and the political process)
First U.S. military advisers start mission in Iraq (Pentagon)
Unknown planes bomb ISIS positions in N. Iraq, Pentagon denies it’s US (the raid was carried out by Syria)
Barzani gives "concrete sign Iraq really is breaking up"
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Iraq confirms Syrian air strikes against Isis militants...
ReplyDeleteThe prime minister of Iraq has confirmed to BBC News that Syria carried out air strikes on militants inside Iraqi territory this week.
Nouri Maliki said Syrian fighter jets had bombed militant positions around the border town of Qaim on Tuesday.
While Iraq did not ask for the raid, he added, it "welcomed" any such strike against the Islamist group Isis.
Isis and its Sunni Muslim allies have seized large parts of Iraq this month including the second city, Mosul.....................http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28033684
26/6/14
Militants take Iraqi gas field town, president calls parliament session......
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Militants took a town an hour from Baghdad that is home to four natural gas fields on Thursday, another gain by Sunni insurgents who have swiftly taken large areas to the north and west of the Iraqi capital.
Iraq's presidency said a session of parliament would be held on July 1, the first step to forming a new government that the international community hopes will be inclusive enough to undermine the insurgency.
The overnight offensive included Mansouriyat al-Jabal, home to the gas fields where foreign companies operate, security forces said. The fighting threatens to rupture the country two and a half years after the end of U.S. occupation.
The insurgents, led by the hardline Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but also including other Sunni groups blame Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for marginalizing their sect during eight years in power and he is fighting for his job.............http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/26/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0F10TF20140626?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
26/6/14