ISIL Aims to Form State of Terror in Iraq – UN

The United Nations (UN) has warned that the Takfiri ISIL group aims to destroy the Iraqi state and establish a “state of terror” in the country Press T.V reported.

“ISIL’s strategy is obvious – to insert themselves in the ethnic and religious fault lines of Iraq, to undermine legitimate authorities and to spread fear among all communities,” said NickolayMladenov, the special representative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for Iraq, briefing the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

 “Their goals are also clear – to destroy the Iraqi State and replace it with a ‘State of Terror’ built on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Mladenov added.

The UN official warned that the ISIL state of terror would “threaten global peace and security”.

“As the crisis unfolded, Iraq almost collapsed,” Mladenov said, saying that the Arab country’s western provinces were seized by the ISIL, southern provinces were hit by poverty, “Baghdad was threatened by a daily barrage of suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices and Iraq’s minorities have been subjected to unspeakable horrors.”

The UN official also commented on the cooperation between the Iraqi government, local tribesmen and volunteer fighters, saying, “Faced with a common threat, the political, community and religious leaders across Iraq focused on pulling back from the brink and saving their country.”

He further pointed to the recent gains by the Iraqi army in the country, noting that the cooperation has been “bearing fruit.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ZeidRa’adZeid al-Hussein also separately shed light on the “monstrous” crimes committed by the terrorist ISIL at the UN Security Council session.

The atrocities are of “such scale and gravity that in all likelihood they qualify as international crimes, subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,” Hussein said.

UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos also said at the session that some 5.2 million people across Iraq are in need of assistance.

R.S