TEHRAN (Tasnim) – President of the Supreme National Defense University ofIran General Ahmad Vahidi raised the alarm about Washington’s continuedsupport for the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist group and said the US isseeking to move the extremists to Central Asia and Afghanistan.link>link>link>link>
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Friday, General Vahidi, the formerdefense minister, pointed to the collapse of Daesh Takfiri group in theMiddle East region and said Western powers had backed the terrorists andtried to prevent the defeat of Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
Since the terror group collapsed in the countries, the US has sought tomove the Daesh elements to the Central Asia and Afghanistan, he noted.
The commander further called for vigilance against the spread of terroristcurrents in the region.
On November 19, Daesh terrorists were flushed out of their last strongholdin Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’sself-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.
Daesh militants made swift advances in northern and western Iraq over thesummer of 2014, after capturing large areas of Syria.
But the timely support by Iran helped Syria and Iraq fight off Daesh. Inaddition, formation of military units by volunteers in Iraq, known as Hashdal-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Units, blunted the edge of Daeshoffensive and later made the terror group withdraw from much of theterritories it had occupied.
Back in August, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned againstre-emergence of Daesh in other regions, particularly Central Asia.
“After suffering a complete defeat in Iraq and Syria, terrorists are likelyto try to permeate across the region. Thus, all of us should be wary ofsuch a threat (in the region), as in the Caucasus and Central Asia,”Rouhani said in a meeting with his Armenian counterpart.