Iraq Military Spokesman to Asharq Al-Awsat: ISIS No Longer Poses a Threat

Iraq’s military spokesman Yehya Rasool.
Iraq’s military spokesman Yehya Rasool.
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Iraq Military Spokesman to Asharq Al-Awsat: ISIS No Longer Poses a Threat

Iraq’s military spokesman Yehya Rasool.
Iraq’s military spokesman Yehya Rasool.

Since the start of 2020, ISIS has been mounting activities that suggest the group has reorganized its ranks after the defeats it sustained in the past few years on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi borders.

The Iraqi army, however, is showing no signs of concern over the growing activities of the terrorist group.

Military spokesman Yehya Rasool said ISIS no longer poses a threat to Iraq and that its cells are nearly completely destroyed and unable to threaten Iraqi towns and civilians.

The lack of public display of concern does not mean that Iraqi authorities aren’t taking the threats posed by ISIS seriously. In the last few weeks, dozens of security campaigns were carried out against ISIS hideouts across the country.

Rasool, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, clarified that these raids are preemptive and are based on intelligence reports.

This indicates that Iraqi security apparatuses own a substantial corpus of intelligence on ISIS cells, extracted from interrogating hundreds of the group’s operatives and leaders who were arrested during the course of the past years.

Other than Iraqi raids, the Arab- Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces have been mounting anti-ISIS campaigns with the aid of the US-led international coalition in Syria.

“Iraqi security forces, after defeating ISIS, intensified their intelligence effort and began preemptive operations and arrested many terrorist leaders and elements, as well as those who finance these terrorist gangs, especially in areas that were under the control of ISIS,” Rasool told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He added that one of the "most prominent terrorists arrested" is the “mufti of ISIS,” who was detained on January 16.

“Mufti of ISIS,” Shifa al-Nima, loomed large over ISIS as a religious figure who issued fatwas against several clerics who refused to swear allegiance to the group.

Al-Nima, whose actual name is Abu Abdul Bari, encouraged ISIS members to attack security forces and destroy historic sites during their reign over large swathes of Iraq and Syria.



Egypt, Zambia Discuss Need to Promote Integration Within African Countries

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, Zambia Discuss Need to Promote Integration Within African Countries

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema in Cairo (Egyptian Presidency)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema, have stressed the crucial need to promote cooperation and integration within Africa as part of their countries’ commitment to fostering stability in the continent.

Egypt’s presidential spokesman, Mohamed el-Shennawy, said Monday that the two leaders held a closed-door meeting, followed by expanded discussions that involved the two countries' official delegations.
They also witnessed the signing of a number of cooperation agreements between the two countries, the spokesman said.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Sisi said that he held fruitful and constructive discussions with Hichilema that reflected the shared political will to shore up bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, social and development domains.
Sisi expressed Egypt’s readiness to transfer its development expertise and provide all forms of support and assistance to Zambia with the view to enhancing the capabilities of its workforce in priority areas, and collaborating on strengthening operational frameworks within Zambia's state institutions.

The Egyptian President highlighted the investment opportunities in the “Lobito Corridor” project, as part of efforts to stimulate the engagement of the Egyptian public and private sectors in investment activities in Zambia.

This aims to unlock new avenues for cooperation between the two countries’ business communities and capitalize on the Egyptian-Zambian Business Forum, held during Hichilema’s visit, he said.

“Driven by this commitment, we agreed on enhancing the contractual frameworks between our countries in the areas of political consultation, promotion of mutual investments, agriculture, aquaculture, and infrastructure,” Sisi said.

He added that they also agreed on the importance of joint action and the need to coordinate positions to advance African priorities on the international agenda.

Hichilema and Sisi underscored the importance of reforming continental organizations to boost their capabilities to address current challenges and to better serve the interests of their peoples.

“We emphasized the crucial need to utilize continental frameworks, notably the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), to bolster regional integration and amalgamation among African countries,” Sisi said.

In addition, the talks touched on a multitude of regional and international issues of mutual interest, with special focus on developments in Gaza, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Horn of Africa, as well as Red Sea security and water security.
The two leaders reiterated their countries’ commitment to fostering stability in Africa and the Middle East region.