‘Iraqi Shiites fighting in Syria’
Zebari insists that it is not a government policy to send fighters
Riyadh: Iraqi Shiite Muslims are fighting in Syria alongside troops of President Bashar Al Assad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in remarks published on Friday, while insisting this was not the policy of the Baghdad government.
“I do not deny that Iraqi Shiite fighters are participating in combat in Syria, just as Sunnis from the Gulf are doing in that country,” he said in remarks published by London-based Arabic daily Al Hayat.
“But that does not come under government policy,” added Zebari, himself a Kurd and a Sunni Muslim.
Fighters from Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement have also intervened in Syria alongside troops loyal to Al Assad.
Their presence has been roundly denounced by rebels fighting to overthrow Al Assad, most of whom come from Syria’s Sunni community, and by influential Egyptian-born cleric Shaikh Yusef Al Qaradawi.
While “Hezbollah militia are engaged in combat in Syria, there are also Sunni fatwas, such as the one by Al Qaradawi, calling for jihad in Syria,” Zebari said.
At the beginning of June, the Qatar-based cleric called on Sunni volunteers from around the Muslim world to fight alongside the rebels.
