A man and a woman cheer Iraq's Federal Police members patrolling the streets of western Mosul, yesterday.
Baghdad: US Vice-President Mike Pence yesterday assured Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi of continued US support to defeat Islamic State, the Iraqi government said in a statement.
The two discussed the situation in Syria and the war on Islamic State in a phone call from Pence following Friday’s US strikes on a Syrian airbase to punish a chemical attack that killed scores of civilians this week in an area held by the opposition to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Pence “affirmed that US policy in the region didn’t change, its priority is to defeat Daesh in Iraq and the region,” said a statement from Abadi’s office.
The Shia-led Iraqi government issued a statement on Friday in reaction to the events in Syria reflecting a difficult balancing act between its alliance with the United States and with Shia Iran, a key backer of Assad.
The Iraqi statement condemned the chemical attack, without naming Assad, calling instead for an international investigation to identify the perpetrator. The statement also criticised “the hasty interventions” that followed the chemical attack, in an apparent reference to the US strikes.
