Backers of Syrian rebels endanger Iraq: Iraqi minister [View all]

[Bosonic]

Source: Reuters

Turkish and Qatari support for Syrian insurgents is tantamount to a declaration of war against Iraq, which will suffer from the fallout of an increasingly sectarian conflict next door, an Iraqi Shi'ite politician said.

Hadi al-Amiri, transport minister and head of the formerly armed Badr Organisation, said Sunni Muslim Turkey and Qatar had stymied all efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict peacefully.

Iraq is calmer than in the communal bloodletting that killed tens of thousands in 2006-2007, but the war in neighboring Syria is straining its precarious sectarian balance.

Amiri accused Ankara and Doha, which support the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, of arming jihadi groups in Syria, where many Sunni militants are fighting, including the Qaeda-approved Nusra Front, which has links to al Qaeda in Iraq.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/27/us-syria-crisis-iraq-idUSBRE91Q0FB20130227