IS will be vanquished: Italian PM

Rome, Feb 11 (IANS/AKI) The Islamic State jihadi group will lose against the international military coalition of countries fighting against it and will be defeated culturally, economically and diplomatically, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said.

"The unscrupulous terrorists of IS must know they will lose their battle," Renzi told journalists in Rome on Wednesday after a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi.

"Iraq and with Iraq the whole international community will overcome this challenge, not only through the international coalition but also culturally, economic and diplomatically," he said.

The international coalition is driving back IS and recapturing territory from the group and Italy is one of the countries leading the battle against it with over 700 security personnel deployed, Renzi noted.

More than Italian 100 paramilitary Carabinieri police officers are training police in Iraq, he said.

Abadi said Iraq aimed to defeat IS in Iraq "by the end of the year" calling for a "political solution" in his country and in neighbouring war-wracked Syria.

He thanked Italy for its support to the Iraqi government and urged Trevi, the Italian company that recently won a tender to undertake key repair work on Mosul's dam to "accelerate its arrival".

Rising water levels in spring, when the Tigris river is swollen by rain and melting snow could lead to the breach of the 3.6 km-long dam which was recaptured from the IS by Iraqi and Kurdish forces in 2014.

--IANS/AKI

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