Iraq’s ruling alliance and powerful Shiite militias have urged Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to request Russian air strikes on Islamic State militants, who control large parts of the country, members of the coalition and militias said.
Growing pressure on Abadi to seek Russian support puts him in the delicate position of trying to appease his ruling coalition, as well as militias seen as a bulwark against Islamic State, while keeping strategic ally Washington on his side.
The US’ top general, Joseph Dunford, said on a trip to Baghdad on Tuesday that the US won assurances from Iraq that it would not seek such strikes.
Dunford, on his first visit to Iraq since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1, said al-Abadi and Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi both told him they were not seeking Russia’s help.
Speculation has grown that Russia could expand its campaign to Iraq, where al-Abadi and the Iranian-backed militias have expressed frustration with the pace and depth of the US campaign against the Islamic State group.
Two members of parliament said the prime minister was under “tremendous pressure” from the ruling National Alliance to request Russian intervention.
Iraq received more than US$20 billion in US military training since the fall of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003, but its army virtually collapsed when Islamic State fighters swept through the north last year and made gains in the west.
US-led air strikes have failed to turn the tide in the war against the ultra-hardline Sunni militants.
Lawmakers and alliance members said an official request for Russian air strikes was relayed to al-Abadi last week and that he has not officially responded.
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