ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A prominent Shiite leader made a comment on Monday accusing the US-led coalition of not being ‘serious’ in combating ISIS, and praising Russian involvement in the region.
“We do not see any serious attempts by our coalitions in combating ISIS,” said Hadi Al-Amiri, a leader of the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi-linked Badr Organization in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in Iraq, who directed his speech at the US-led coalition.
Speaking at a press conference, Amiri said that European ISIS fighters play an evil role within the Islamic State and “there are conspiracies by some countries who want to remove threats of ISIS on them, pushing these foreign ISIS militants into Iraq.”
“Lack of commitment by the US-led coalition in striking ISIS in Iraq forced us to turn to Russia, because they are significantly targeting ISIS positions,” he said.
The Badr organization leader claimed that “we told the USA that they should deter the flow of foreign fighters in joining ISIS in Iraq and Syria if they are serious in taking the group away.”
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Thursday he is open to Russian airstrikes on ISIS in Iraq.
In an interview with France 24 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Abadi was asked whether Moscow had offered to intervene militarily in Iraq against ISIS.
“Not yet. It is a possibility,” he told the channel. “If we get the offer, we will consider it."
"It is in our interest to share information with Russia,” Abadi added. “Russia has a lot of information. The more information we gather the more I can protect the Iraqi people."
Russian warplanes began airstrikes in neighboring Syria on Wednesday, with Moscow saying it had hit anti-regime opposition forces as well as ISIS.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in New York that there were no plans to extend military operations to Iraq.
"We were not invited or asked," Lavrov said. "We don't come if we're not invited."
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