Iraq dismisses claims of meddling in Syria’s affairs

In a statement released on Sunday, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said, “What is happening in Syria is an internal Syrian affair,” the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported.
 
The Western-backed Syrian National Council has charged that Iraq is “attacking the Syrian people, their basic rights and their territorial sovereignty.”
 
Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the Iraqi government has a policy of non-interference in Syria.
 
The report comes as on Saturday an Iraqi soldier was killed and three people injured near the border with Syria. Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the casualties were caused by “fighting at the Yaarubiyeh border crossing inside Syria.”
 
“The Iraqi forces that were hit by the fire were about 600 meters away from the crossing” into Iraq’s Nineveh Province, the spokesman added.
 
    “There are clashes between the two sides inside Syrian territory, but as an Iraqi force this is unrelated to us and we did not interfere,” Askari stated.
 
 
The crisis in Syria began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the turmoil.