Coalition should cut off financial aid for ISIL: Afkham

“The anti-ISIL coalition should take its first step by preventing financial support for the ISIL and this is the expectation of the public opinion in the region and the world,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said at a weekly press briefing on Wednesday.

She added that the anti-ISIL coalition’s seriousness should be demonstrated in supporting the people of the Syrian city of Kobani.

She commended the resistance of Kurdish fighters in their battle against the ISIL militants and expressed hope that the resistance would lead to the terrorists’ withdrawal from the region.

“Amerli and Kobani are two popular regions that resisted against terrorism. The anti-ISIL coalition should have helped these areas but the measures have been slow… and this trend increases our doubts about the anti-ISIL coalition’s objectives,” Afkham said.

Since late September, the US, along with its regional allies, has been conducting airstrikes against the ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Many of the countries joining the so-called anti-terror coalition, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been the staunch supporters of the ISIL Takfiri elements in the Middle East region.

The airstrikes by US and its allies in Syria are an extension of the US-led aerial campaign against the ISIL positions in Iraq, which started in August.

Afkham further condemned Israel’s plan to divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied West Bank, saying, “The Zionist regime (Israel) has always held radical views toward the Palestinian people and upholds no right for them.”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Iran considers “Palestine and the Al-Aqsa Mosque as the heart of the Muslim world,” and emphasized that such Israeli moves would not discourage the Palestinian people from obtaining their rights.

Israeli authorities continue to restrict the access of Palestinians to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as the Israeli police have deployed nearly 1,000 soldiers and set up several roadblocks around the holy Islamic site in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).