Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 23

By Temkin Jafarov – Trend:

Iran and Russia created a joint operations headquarters to fight the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization in Iraq, the Iranian Tasnimnews agency reported citing an Iraqi source.

Reportedly, the Iranian and Russian military experts are helping the Iraqi commanders in the fight against the IS.

“Over 60 military experts from Russia and Iran created a joint operations headquarters in the Al Rasheed Hotel in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad,” the report said.

The terrorist organization known as the ‘Islamic State’ (IS, formerly ISIL or ISIS) was created in 2003 in Iraq. Between 2004 and 2006, the organization was led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and consisted of 11 radical Islamist groups, which had close ties to the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

Following the start of military confrontation in Syria in 2013 between the armed opposition and the government forces, the IS penetrated the country. The organization said at the time it refuses to take the oath of Al-Qaeda and declared ‘a holy war’ against all groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Syrian government forces.