BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi Tuesday said that most of Islamic State (IS) militants remaining in Syria are Iraqi citizens, asserting that Iraqi forces are closely following the situation inside Syria.
"We will wait and watch the movements in Syria, and it is supposed that Daesh (IS group) militants would surrender and most of them are Iraqi nationals," Abdul Mahdi told a press conference after weekly cabinet meeting.
"We are going to strike a devastating blow to prevent them (IS militants) from any impact on the security situation in Iraq," Abdul Mahdi said without giving further details about the strike.
He said that Iraq is concerned about developments of the battles in neighboring Syria, which is witnessing the clearing of the last pocket of IS extremist group near the Syrian border with Iraq.
Iraqi security force and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi brigades are deployed on the borderline between Syria and Iraq, which extends to some 600 km in west of the two provinces of Nineveh and Anbar.
The long borderline between the two countries has long been used by insurgent groups and IS militants for logistic support and to carry out cross-border attacks in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Meanwhile, Abdul Mahdi reiterated that there is no military bases for foreign troops, and that all the military bases are Iraqi ones, which contain some foreign military experts and trainers.
"All military bases in the country are Iraqi bases, and there is no existence for foreign military bases," Abdul Mahdi said.
He also said that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq "is still around 5,200, and there are some 2,500 to 3,000 non-American foreign troops experts, but all of them have one goal and one duty is to train Iraqi forces and help fight against Daesh."
Last week, Abdul Mahdi confirmed during his meeting with acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who was on a visit to Baghdad, that Iraq "will not accept any foreign bases on the Iraqi territory," according to a statement by Abdul Mahdi office.
Over 5,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces in the battles against the extremist IS militants. The troops are part of the U.S.-led international coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.
