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Hizbullah Vows Not to Intervene in Iraq, Warns of ISIL Spread

Hizbullah stressed on Friday that it will not intervene in the security situation in Iraq, expressing fear of the spread of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“Hizbullah has nothing to do with Iraq... Iraq is bigger than the capabilities of the party,” Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Walid Sakariya told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

He stressed that “it's time to end the abnormal phenomena of ISIL.”

Hizbullah has deployed thousands of fighters into neighboring Syria to back President Bashar Assad's army as he battles insurgents who have been trying to overthrow him for the past three years.

“The developments in Iraq will have major repercussions on the situation in the area and the policies followed by all states, especially the U.S. policies,” Sakariya said.

The lawmaker reassured that the “situation in Lebanon is still stable and will remain as it is as long as there's agreement between the political parties to prevent ISIL from entering the country.”

Hizbullah, a long-standing ally of both Iran, Syria, and Iraq says it is supporting Assad against Takfiris (Sunni extremists) who are targeting Syria's Alawite and Christian minorities.

Jihadists from ISIL have swept up a huge swathe of predominantly Sunni Arab territory in northern and north-central Iraq, including the second city Mosul.

Forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region have meanwhile taken control of Kirkuk, an ethnically divided northern city they have sought to rule for decades.

H.K.

G.K.


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