Iraqi Hezbollah: US Plots Fail to Separate Syria, Lebanon from Iran, Iraq

“The US project to separate Syria and Lebanon from Iraq and Iran by imposing control over the bordering areas has failed,” al-Hosseini said in an interview with the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel on Monday.

“The US has understood that it cannot use Iraq as a leverage against Iran,” he added.

Al-Hosseini said that Hashd al-Shaabi and other groups which are opposed to the US presence in Iraq have the superior hand in the country, saying that the Iraqi borders should be controlled by the Iraqi forces, and the Hezbollah forces will not allow deployment of the US forces at the bordering areas.

His remarks came after a spokesman for the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) announced that American forces would stay in Iraq “as long as needed”, amid reports that the terrorist group is making a comeback in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

“We’ll keep troops there as long as we think they’re needed,” Army Colonel Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the US-led coalition against Daesh, told a press conference held in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Middle East News reported.

“The main reason, after ISIS is defeated militarily, is the stabilization efforts and we still need to be there for that, so that’s one of the reasons we’ll maintain a presence,” he added.

Daesh’s presence has recently been purged from Iraq after the terrorist group overran much of the territory in Northern and Western Iraq in 2014.