IRAN BACKS IRAQ
Shiite powerhouse Iran on Tuesday pledged support for the Shiite-led government of Iraq in its battle against the Sunni insurgency spearheaded by the Islamic State group. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Tehran that Iran has supported Baghdad “from the first day and will remain on that path until the last day,” according to a report by the official IRNA news agency. Later, the state news agency reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, told al-Abadi that he considered the security of Iraq and Iran “inseparable.” Their mutual alliances with Iraq put Iran and the United States on the same side in the fight — €” although neither country acknowledges any sort of direct coordination. Meanwhile Iran continues to support embattled Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad, who Washington opposes.
— Associated Press
The cache of weapons included hand grenades, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, according to a video uploaded by a media group loyal to the Islamic State.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said the U.S. had seen the video but could not confirm its accuracy and was seeking more information. But the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which bases its information on a network of activists on the ground, said the militants had seized at least one cache.
U.S. and coalition plane planes airdropped the caches early Monday for Kurds in the embattled Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border. The Islamic State group has been trying to seize the town for over a month now, causing the exodus of some 200,000 people into Turkey.
On Tuesday, Islamic State loyalists on social media posted sarcastic thank you notes to the United States, including one image that said “Team USA.”
But the lost weapons drop was more an embarrassment than a great strategic loss. The militants already possess millions of dollars-worth of U.S. weaponry they captured from fleeing Iraqi soldiers while seizing large swaths of Iraqi territory in a sudden sweep in June.
Also Tuesday, Syrian government airstrikes hit a rebel-held town along the country’s southern border with Jordan, killing at least eight people.
Activists with the Local Coordination Committees and the Syrian Observatory said the number of those killed was likely to rise as there are more victims under the rubble.
The committee said Syrian government planes dropped crude explosives-laden canisters on the town of Nasib on the Syria-Jordan border.
The airstrikes are part of battles between Syrian government forces and Islamic rebel groups for control of the area.
Syrian government forces have heavily bombed rebel areas in recent weeks, while the U.S-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against Islamic State militants elsewhere in Syria.
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