RNA – In his Friday prayer sermon delivered to a large and fervent crowd of believers in the Iraqi city of Najaf’s al-Fatimiyah al-Kubra Husayniyah, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Sadruddin al-Qubanchi said Iraqi troops are fully prepared to begin the operation to liberate the city of al-Hawijah, located in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk Governorate, and members of the Daesh terrorist group are currently moving their headquarters to unknown areas due to their fear over this operation.
The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has reportedly executed a dozen civilians in Hawijah as army troops, backed by allied Kurdish forces, is preparing to launch a multi-pronged operation to liberate the town in oil-rich northern Kirkuk Governorate from the terrorist.
The Iraq Shi’ah cleric commended the courage and devotion of the warriors of the Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraqi Armed Forces in the operation to liberate Tal Afar and thanked the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi.
Referring to the decision of the Kurdistan Region to hold a referendum on independence from Iraq, Hujjat al-Islam al-Qubanchi said, “Iraq and many other countries have condemned the holding of this referendum.”
Iraqi Kurdistan’s plans for a September 25 referendum on independence have been met with frustration from many sides, including from the United States, the central Iraqi government in Baghdad, Iran and Turkey.
In other remarks, he condemned the brutal acts of the Myanmarese government against the Rohingya Muslims and stressed that international and Arab organizations must not remain silent in the face of such a crime.
Due to ongoing violence and persecution, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring countries either by land or boat over the course of many decades.
The situation facing the “world’s most persecuted minority” has worsened since 25 August and more than 28,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar’s Rakhine state amid fears of ethnic cleansing.
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