Military Escalation in Syria Inadmissible – Iraqi Prime Minister

Sputnik News

18:16 10.02.2016(updated 18:23 10.02.2016)

Prime Minister Haider Abadi said that Iraq is against attempts to escalate foreign military presence in Syria and expects the international community to step in.

ROME (Sputnik) – Iraq is against attempts to escalate foreign military presence in Syria and expects the international community to step in, Prime Minister Haider Abadi said Wednesday.

'Iraq supports a political solution to the Syrian conflict. We consider any escalation in Syria to be inadmissible,' Abadi told reporters during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome.

He added that international community must step in to prevent any further military intervention in Syria, in addition to the ongoing air operations by a US-led international coalition and Russia.

Last week, Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said it stood ready to deploy ground troops to Syria to fight the Daesh militant group, which has been outlawed by many countries, including the United States, Iraq and Russia.

A similar pledge of involvement attributed last Saturday to the Bahraini ambassador in London was refuted earlier this week by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Halid Ahmad Al Halifa who told RT Arabic that Manama was not planning to send ground troops to Syria or any other place to fight terrorism.

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