UNITED NATIONS
United Nations Special Representative for Iraq Martin Kobler said Iraqi and Syrian conflicts were merging.
Briefing the Security Council, Kobler said “[Iraq] can continue to make important strides in deepening the roots of democracy, pursuing reforms and embracing diversity as well as improving its stature in the international community or it can go down a dangerous path, foretold with political impasse and sectarian violence at each turn leading to increased instability."
He said there has been an “alarming” scale of renewed violence in Iraq during the latest four months, with nearly 3,000 people killed and over 7,000 more wounded.
Speaking to journalists in New York after briefing the Security Council, Mr. Kobler said the situation in Syria also impacts the situation in Iraq, fuelling the insecurity, which increasingly has sectarian overtones.
Kobler added, “These countries are interrelated. Iraq is the fault line between the Sunni and Shi'a world.”
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