Iraqi Vice President and former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said his country might fall prey to a “most dangerous and most brutal” kind of terrorism if sectarian strife in the country is not addressed following the battle of Mosul.
In an interview with CNN Arabic, Allawi said that the presence of the commander of Iran’s Al Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq is dangerous because there is no formal agreement between Baghdad and Tehran that regulates his presence, although he indicated that Iran has ties with Sunni politicians as well.
“There is no Sunni or Shiite attitudes,” Allawi said. “Those Sunnis (in touch with Soleimani) are working in the current government ... I speak quite frankly. There are millions of inter-marriages, Sunnis married to Shiites. There are Iraqi tribes and all tribes contain Sunnis and Shiites, without differentiating between them, so it is those elites and political groups that plunge the country into sectarianism, for otherwise the problem would not have existed in Iraq.”
He added that “from this point of view, I do not think it is the issue of Soleimani that could significantly provoke Shiites more than the Sunnis because the Shiites are patriots and leaders of Arabism in Iraq ... The Shiites were the leaders against the British in the 1920 Iraqi revolt. When the revolution triumphed, the Shiites, and not others, went to Hijaz and chose a Sunni Hijazi king to rule Iraq, namely Faisal I of Iraq.”
Allawi also said: “We welcome Qassem Soleimani for any assistance provided to Iraq, but to come to roam in areas of conflict, this is unacceptable, to the Shiites before the Sunnis. I am a Shiite. But I never visited Iran. Meanwhile, Sunni leaders have gone to Iran several times and Shiite leaders as well.”
He also said that Russia has diverse interests in the region.
“Russia has a very important role in Syria in particular,” Allawi said. “Russia has three considerations: First is that it understands that the region affects its position when it splits along geopolitical lines; second, it had a negative experience with Islamists, with the Taliban in Afghanistan and in Chechnya as well; third, it has historic ties with the region so it cannot leave it.
“I said this to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and to all the countries of the alliance: the Russians are clinging to Bashar Assad based on these three above-mentioned issues. This is the Syrian-Russian reality.
“Russia, like it or not, is an important country that wants to interfere in international politics as a result of the vacuum, crises and wavering international resolution.”
Regarding a possible “roadmap” for Iraq after the battle for Mosul, one that could guarantee that the country does not go back to sectarian fighting, Allawi said the displaced people must be allowed to return and be compensated for their losses before reconstruction begins.
He also said that it is important to deploy special military units in Mosul to prevent acts of revenge and work toward ethnic and religious integration in the city.
In an interview with CNN Arabic service at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, Allawi said it’s important is to forge “real national reconciliation.” He warned that if a political solution fails, the country would witness more brutal terrorism.

Source: Arab News