Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said implementing Afghanistan-like policies to create division and terrorism is among the plots of domestic and particularly foreign enemies of the Iraqi nation.
He described the movements of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as an old and pre-planned sedition and conspiracy to destabilize the whole region, adding that behind-the-scene support for the terrorists by certain regional and ultra-regional states has complicated the situation in Iraq.
The EC chairman also praised the idea of establishing an all-inclusive government in Iraq as well as the role of senior clerics in Iraq particularly that of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in mobilizing people for confronting Takfiri groups. Ayatollah Rafsanjani described unity as the only way to solve the problems in Muslim world as well as in Iraq.
In early June, following its large-scale offensives in Iraq, ISIL seized control of most parts of Mosul, the second most populous city in Iraq and its surrounding Nineveh province.
The terrorists’ attacks have reportedly forced more than half a million people in and around Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, to flee their homes.
Following Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s religious decree (Fatwa) which called on Iraqis to take up arms against terrorists, nearly 1.5 million Iraqis have volunteered to join battles against the al-Qaeda-linked militants. The volunteers consist of people from all walks of life including retired officers.