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| Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, right, and his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moallem, talk during a private meeting in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, Pool) |
"RIYADH: Iraq is unable to stop its neighbour Iran transferring weapons to Syria through its airspace, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday.
"We reject and condemn the transfer of weapons through our airspace and we will inform the Iranian side of that formally. But we do not have the ability to stop it," he told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.
Iran is the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting mostly Sunni rebels in a civil war in which more the opposition say more than 100,000 people have been killed.
The United States, which wants Assad to relinquish power, has warned Iraq not to allow Iranian weapons flights to cross its airspace into Syria. But Zebari said he had told Western countries that if they wanted to stop such flights, they had to help do so themselves.
"If you imagine these flights breach United Nations Security Council resolutions banning weapons imports and exports from Iran... I invite you in the name of the government to help us stop these flights across Iraqi airspace," he said......"
"We reject and condemn the transfer of weapons through our airspace and we will inform the Iranian side of that formally. But we do not have the ability to stop it," he told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.
Iran is the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting mostly Sunni rebels in a civil war in which more the opposition say more than 100,000 people have been killed.
The United States, which wants Assad to relinquish power, has warned Iraq not to allow Iranian weapons flights to cross its airspace into Syria. But Zebari said he had told Western countries that if they wanted to stop such flights, they had to help do so themselves.
"If you imagine these flights breach United Nations Security Council resolutions banning weapons imports and exports from Iran... I invite you in the name of the government to help us stop these flights across Iraqi airspace," he said......"
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