Ali Akbar Velayati, an international adviser to the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, praised the Iraqi nation for its contribution to regional stability by forcing the US to leave the Arab country after the fall of former dictator, Saddam Hussein.
“If the Iraqi nation had not ended US control over the country after toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq would have been lost and the region’s stability would have been totally upset,” Velayati said in a Thursday meeting with Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, secretary-general of Hezbollah al-Nujaba, a major Iraqi Shia resistance movement fighting Islamic State terrorists, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The adviser hailed the Iraqi nation’s success in fighting off the IS terrorist group, referring to the Iraqi religious authorities and people’s obedience to their guidelines as the main factor in their victories.
Velayati pointed to the establishment of democracy in Iraq, which he described as unmatched in the Arab world, and the victories gained by the Iraqi volunteer forces (known as the Popular Mobilization Units or Hashd al-Shaabi) as other elements contributing to the defeat of IS.
Since early 2014, Iraq has been facing the growing militancy of IS and allied militants who have taken over areas in the country’s west and north.
IS threatens all communities In Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.
In recent months, terrorists have been forced by the Iraqi Army and voluntary forces to retreat from many of the areas they had occupied.
