MP: Certain Politicians Seeking Pretext for Saudi Meddling in Iraq
A senior Iraqi legislator dismissed reports on looting people’s properties by the volunteer popular forces fighting against ISIL terrorists, cautioning that certain Iraqi politicians are after finding a pretext to pave the ground for the Saudi meddling in Iraq.
“The volunteer popular forces are clear of all the accusations raised against them by certain political sides and media deliberately and they have played a significant role in retaking the regions which were controlled by the ISIL,” Intisar Hassan, the representative of the National Coalition at the Iraqi parliament, told FNA on Wednesday.
He said that certain organized groups are after downplaying the popular forces’ victories in Tikrit in the eyes of the public opinion.
“The allegations against the popular forces are meant to create a pretext for the regional countries to meddle in Iraq’s affairs like what happened in Yemen (by Saudi Arabia),” Hassan added.
On March 31, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said that units of government forces, backed by Shiite and Sunni volunteer forces, had managed to retake control of the city after heavy battles with the ISIL terrorists, who had seized Tikrit in June last year.
Tikrit’s recapture was crucial for the Iraqi army in its quest to take control of the country’s second-largest city, Mosul.
The ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of the country’s Northern city of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country.
Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shiite volunteers and Sunni tribesmen succeeded in driving the ISIL terrorists out of large parts of Iraq in recent months.
