ISIL flag in Hajj indicates KSA supports terrorism: Iran MP

“The nature of Saudi Arabia and countries which claim to fight the ISIL is to support terrorism and they have created ISIL themselves,” a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad Saleh Jokar said on Monday.

He added that the raising of the ISIL flag at the Arafat Plain shows that Saudi Arabia legitimizes and supports the ISIL terrorist group, noting that previous evidence also revealed that Riyadh had created Takfiri and extremist groups and provided them with the greatest financial aid.

The legislator emphasized that ISIL Takfiris carry out acts of terror in the name of Islam to deceive public opinion, saying the move serves Western interests.

“Muslim nations should know that all these acts of sedition and crimes are conducted by enemies of Islam,” Jokar added.

The lawmaker’s remarks came after social media posted photos showing the ISIL flag being carried by a pilgrim during the Hajj rites on Jabal ar-Rahmah Mountain on the Arafat Plain on Friday.

The Saudi television aired footage of the pilgrim with the ISIL flag for just a few seconds before it stopped broadcasting the video.

ISIL controls large areas of Syria’s east and north. The group sent its militants into Iraq in June, seizing large parts of land straddling the border between Syria and Iraq.

The West and its regional allies, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are giving financial and military support to the ISIL militants.

Saudi Arabia and its former intelligence chief, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, have played a leading role in the establishment and rise of the ISIL terrorist group.