Iraqi National Security Says Lebanon Informed Them about IS Group
Iraq's national security adviser Qassem Al Araji said that Lebanese authorities had informed Iraq about an Islamic State group heading to the country, two weeks ago.
Iraq launched three airstrikes on the group in Diyala and killed nine militants, including four Lebanese.
IS gunmen had earlier attacked Iraqi army barracks, killed a guard and shot dead 11 soldiers as they slept in the mountainous al-Azim district.
A security official told The Associated Press that four among the killed in Diyala were Lebanese, natives of the northern town of Tripoli.
Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city and the country’s most impoverished, has been prone to violence and militants who, inspired by the Islamic State group, launched attacks against Lebanon’s army in 2014 in the most serious bout of violence in the city. As Lebanon faces an unprecedented convergence of crises, including a swift descent into poverty, many fear militants may seek to exploit discontent among the city’s majority Sunni residents.
Source: Associated Press, Naharnet
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/287730 |