UN Envoy: Iraq Blasts Rooted From Syrian Instability

New York, April 8, IRNA – Iraqi permanent envoy at the United Nations Hamid Al Bayati said the increasing number of terrorist attacks in Iraq is rooted from instability in Syria. Talking to IRNA here in an exclusive interview, he said Baghdad was strongly in favor of dialogue to work out a political solution to the Syrian crisis. He said the terrorist operations and blasts in Iraq which started in 2003 are steadily increasing due to the activities of al-Qaeda and other affiliated terrorist groups. He stressed that such groups are targeting people and government organizations to confront the democratic and pluralist system they are supporting. Noting that the Iraqi society was suffering from terrorist attacks carried out by the al-Qaeda and its satellite groups, the Iraqi envoy stressed that they were targeting people from all strata including Muslims, Assyrians, Kurds and Turkmen to eventually destroy the instability in the country and the democratic ruling system. He said regional crises especially that of Syria have adversely affected situation in Iraq. Al Bayati underlined that terrorists infiltrate into Iraq from inside Syria to carry out sabotage acts. He believed that continuation of such a situation leaves very negative impacts not only on Iraq but also on Lebanon and Jordan. As for his suggested solutions for the Syrian crisis, he said Iraq maintained that the Syrian people should decide for their destiny themselves through diplomacy. He stressed that there were no military solutions possible for the Syrian crisis./end