Iranian Official Warns of Terrorist Recruitments

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iran’s interior minister called for collective efforts to prevent the Takfiri terrorist groups from recruiting forces in new areas after their defeats in Syria and Iraq.

News ID: 67468

Date: 13 December 2017 - 16:45

The defeat of Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq has made them opt for new measures and extend the range of their activities in the other countries, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

“Terrorists are seeking to recruit forces in some new regions and make those areas a hotbed of their activities,” he warned.

The minister then highlighted Iran’s resolve in the fight against terrorism, saying the country is involved in regional counterterrorism cooperation with the other countries, such as Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Russia and Afghanistan.

Iran is closely monitoring the activities of terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIL), he underlined.

In separate comments on Tuesday, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alawi raised the alarm about the Daesh terrorist group’s attempt to establish its self-proclaimed caliphate in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan after being flushed out of Iraq and Syria.

On November 19, Daesh terrorists were flushed out of their last stronghold in Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.

Daesh militants made swift advances in northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large areas of Syria.

But the timely support by Iran helped Syria and Iraq fight off Daesh. In addition, formation of military units by volunteers in Iraq, known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Units, blunted the edge of Daesh offensive and later made the terror group withdraw from much of the territories it had occupied.