Iraq to continue striking Islamic State targets in Syria, Abadi says
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. File photo.
(Reuters) Iraq will continue to hit Islamic State targets in Syria, as well as in neighboring countries if they give their approval, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Wednesday.
“I respect the sovereignty of states, and I have secured the approval of Syria to strike positions (on its territory),” he told a conference in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.
Abadi on Feb. 24 announced the first Iraqi air strike inside Syrian territory, targeting Islamic State positions in retaliation for bomb attacks in Baghdad.
“I will not hesitate to strike the positions of the terrorists in the neighboring countries, we will keep on fighting them,” Abadi said.
The total damage to property and infrastructure caused by Islamic State is about $35 billion, he said.
The hardline group has lost most Iraqi cities in captured in northern and western Iraq in 2014 and 2015 and is now fighting off a U.S.-backed offensive on its last major urban stronghold, in the city of Mosul. The group also controls parts of Syria.