Asia

Home page

Asia

Iraqi official: N. Korea wants to fly through Iraq to Syria

22 September 2012 11:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. North Korea requested permission from Iraq this week to fly a plane through its airspace to Syria, said an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. APA reports quoting to CNN that Al-Maliki rejected the request out of suspicion the plane would be carrying weapons

The prime minister talked by phone with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Biden asked Iraq for help in stopping weapons from reaching Syria, according to a statement released by his office, and stressed to the Iraqi prime minister "the need to prevent any state from taking advantage of Iraq’s territory or airspace to send weapons to Syria."

"Al-Maliki reiterated the position of the Iraqi government based on the need to find a peaceful political solution for the Syrian crisis and its rejection to supply ammunitions to any party involved in the Syrian conflicts," the release said.

Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s rule are concerned about the shuttling of arms to his government by entities such as Iran. Iraq borders Syria and Iran.