European parl’t approves designation of int’l day for Islamic State victims

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – The Iraqi foreign ministry said on Sunday that a proposal it presented to the European Parliament to designate an international day to commemorate victims of terror attacks linked to the Islamic State group was approved.

Ahmed Mahgoub, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement that “the European Parliament has okayed during a general session held on June 20, 2018 a proposal presented by the Iraqi Embassy to designate an international day to honor the victims who lost their lives in terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic State group.”

The European legislative body will “vote on the proposal during a session scheduled to be held in Strasbourg, France, on July 2-6,” Mahgoub added.

Mahgoub added that the Iraqi embassy will coordinate with the “European Parliament to choose the appropriate day for the commemoration of the victims of intimidation in Iraq and the world.”

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.

IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by a U.S.-led international coalition, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul, the group’s previously proclaimed capital.