TEHRAN - Iran’s role was crucial in protecting Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the struggle against Daesh, the chairman of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance in the Iraqi parliament has said, praising the courageous sacrifices made by Iranian military advisorsThe comments were made on Friday by Hadi al-Ameri, who also serves as the secretary general of the Badr Organization in Iraq, while he was speaking to a tribal meeting in the province of Dhi Qar in southern Iraq.He said that in defending Iraq from the terrorist group Daesh, the “Iranian brethren” had a “significant role” to play.The senior Iraqi lawmaker said that Iranians made significant sacrifices in this regard, with Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the country’s top anti-terror commander who was assassinated by the U.S.

in Iraq in 2020, playing a key role.He also said that enemies anticipated that Iraq would be overrun following Daesh’s terror campaign, but the plot was thwarted by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s fatwa, which urged Iraqis to fight back against the Daesh terrorists.“Thanks to the fatwa, Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, were formed.

This fostered cooperation and coordination among all Iraqi armed forces and put an end to sectarianism in Iraq,” Ameri noted. In 2014, Daesh launched a terror campaign in the Arab nation and quickly seized control of large areas in the country.After a three-year military counterterrorism operation, in which Hashd al-Shaabi also played a significant part, Iraq declared victory over the terrorist group in December 2017.However, Daesh’s remnants continue to carry out occasional strikes throughout Iraq in an effort to reorganize and incite new unrest in the Arab nation.Since January 2020, when the U.S.

assassinated General Soleimani and the PMU deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, the Takfiri terrorist group has been able to step up its assaults in Iraq.After the assassination, anti-U.S.

sentiments in Iraq dramatically rose, leading Iraqi parliament to enact a measure only two days later requiring the Baghdad government to expel all foreign troops commanded by Washington.By the end of 2021, the U.S.

was ultimately compelled to stop its “combat mission” in Iraq, but Iraqi resistance organizations insist that the Pentagon’s purported advising role must also come to an end.