Expert: US Plotting for Extensive Terrorist Attacks on Key Iraqi Cities
TEHRAN (FNA)- The US is plotting again for recruiting the ISIL terrorist group to attack Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf and set free the ISIL prisoners in Iraq, a prominent security expert said.
"Washington is pursuing different plots after failure of several of its plans in the region and its inability to prevent the approval of the plan to expel the American forces in the Iraqi parliament," Hafez al-Basharah told the Arabic-language al-Ma'aloumeh news website on Sunday.
He added that the US will in the next stages reinforce the ISIL by recruiting their remnants in Iraq and Syria, noting that it also plots to launch massive attacks against Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf and release the ISIL terrorists from Iraqi jails.
Al-Basharah said Washington seeks to find a pretext for its continued presence in Iraq.
Earlier this month, Iraq's Parliament voted to have the US troops removed from the country, heeding a call from Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to take urgent measures and end the foreign forces presence as soon as possible.
The Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution to work to end the foreign troops presence in the Arab country in the wake of a US targeted assassination of a top Iranian general and a commander of Iraqi popular forces.
The resolution, which was passed anonymously, instructed the government to cancel a request for military assistance to the US-led coalition, which was issued in response to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) terror group.
"The government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant due to the end of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory," the resolution read, adding, "The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason."
The resolution stated that Iraqi military leadership has to report the number of foreign instructors that are necessary for Iraqi national security.
Earlier, Abdul Mahdi had requested that parliament order the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.