Baghdad: Iraq’s prime minister says Baghdad needs to share intelligence with other countries, including Russia, Syria and Iran, in order to defeat Daesh.

In a televised speech aired on Monday before his departure to attend the UN General Assembly, Haider Al Abadi said Iraq welcomed Russia’s “recent interest” in battling Daesh, and responded by establishing an intelligence cell that also includes Iran and Syria.

Iraq’s decision to strengthen ties with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his two main allies complicates US efforts to combat Daesh without strengthening regional foes who are also battling the extremists. It comes as Moscow has been ramping up its involvement in Syria in defence of Al Assad — ferrying weapons, troops and supplies to an airport near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in what the US sees as preparations for setting up an air base there.

In a televised speech before his departure to attend the UN General Assembly, Al Abadi said Iraq welcomed Russia’s “recent interest” in battling Daesh.

“During the past three months, there has been an interest by Russia to fight Daesh, as many terrorists who are fighting with it are Russian who would return to Russia to carry out terrorist acts,” Al Abadi said. “At the same time, we welcomed that interest by establishing an intelligence cell in which Syria and Iraq participate.”

He said that his country will continue to work closely with the US-led coalition that has been bombing Daesh in Syria and Iraq, saying Iraq needs “all the world’s intelligence efforts in order to fight, to besiege and to terminate Daesh”.

Iraq has long had close ties with neighbouring Iran and has coordinated with Tehran in fighting Daesh — which controls about a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared caliphate. Iran has sent military advisers to Iraq and worked closely with Shiite militias battling Daesh.

A US-led coalition has meanwhile been conducting airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq and Syria as well as training and advising Iraqi forces, but US officials insist they are not coordinating their efforts with Iran. The US also refuses to cooperate with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, who Washington has insisted should step down. Russia and Iran have provided crucial support to Al Assad since Syria’s uprising began in 2011.

Hours after announcing the agreement on Sunday, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the US-led campaign against Daesh, Col. Steve Warren, said the US recognises Iraq’s interest in sharing information on Daesh with other governments, but added that, “We do not support the presence of Syrian government officials who are part of a regime that has brutalised its own citizens.”

In New York, US Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said “all of the efforts need to be coordinated. This is not yet coordinated.”

“I think we have concerns about how we are going to go forward. That is precisely what we are meeting on to talk about now. Our presidents will be meeting tomorrow,” he told reporters, referring to scheduled talks between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.