US warns Syria against Iraq intervention

Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on Wednesday the US had “no reason to dispute” reports of Syrian strikes on Iraqi territory against militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who have seized control of some key northern Iraqi cities.

Earnest accused the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of allowing “ISIL to thrive in the first place.”

“The solution to the threat confronting Iraq is not the intervention of the Assad regime,” he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry also warned Syria and other neighbors of Iraq to stay out of the mounting conflict.

"We've made it clear to everyone in the region that we don't need anything to take place that might exacerbate the sectarian divisions that are already at a heightened level of tension," Kerry said Wednesday in Brussels at a meeting of diplomats from NATO members.

"It's already important that nothing take place that contributes to the extremism or could act as a flash point with respect to the sectarian divide."

In a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday in Baghdad, Kerry said Washington’s support for Iraqi authorities largely depends on their ability to quickly form a new government.

ISIL grew out of a Syrian insurgency which has been shored up by the United States and some of its Arab allies to fight the Assad government.

Remnants of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party have also joined forces with the ISIL militants to overthrow the government in Baghdad.

HRJ/HRJ