Iraqi Popular Forces Warn to Target US Forces after Expulsion of ISIL

“If the US forces refrain from leaving the Iraqi territories after annihilation of the ISIL terrorist group, the Islamic resistance of Iraq will target them,” al-Hosseini told the Islamic republic news agency on Tuesday.

Noting that the US forces are protecting rather than fighting against the ISIL terrorists in Iraq, he said that the Americans have increased their activities in Iraq in recent days through their military advisors the number of their flights and want to open some space for themselves in the anti-ISIL campaign to be able to render more support to the terrorist group.

Al-Hosseini described the ISIL and the US as two sides of the same coin, and said the Americans’ presence in Mosul is not aimed at uprooting ISIL as they plan to make sure of their deployment in the region after expulsion of the ISIL.

He said that the ISIL has been created and nurtured by the US, and added that Washington wants to fool the world again and introduce itself as a partner in the anti-ISIL war.

His remarks came after a senior Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi volunteer forces) commander disclosed that the US troops have helped ISIL chief commander Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi escape the western part of the city of Mosul in Northern Iraq.

“The US forces have paved the way for ISIL leader (Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) to flee from Western Mosul to al-Qayravan region,” the Arabic-language al-Sumeria TV quoted Javad al-Tayebavi as saying earlier this month.

“Our intelligence unit has confirmed that al-Baghdadi is moving between al-Qayravan and al-Hazar region in Southern Mosul,” he added.