UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council Friday strongly condemned recent attacks committed by al-Qaeda terrorists in  Iraq’s western province of Anbar, reaffirming the need to combat  terrorism by all means.
“The Security Council deplores in the strongest terms the recent events in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in Anbar province in Iraq,” said a presidential statement read by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zedi Al-Hussein, the permanent representative of Jordan to the UN who holds the rotating presidency of the 15-nation body for January, at an emergency meeting on the situation in Iraq.
“The Security Council condemns the attacks that are being perpetrated by al-Qaida affiliate, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), against the people of Iraq in an attempt to destabilize the country and  region,” said the statement. In the statement, the Council said that Iraqi security forces and local police, “whose members are being targeted and killed in ongoing attacks by terrorists,” are showing “great courage” as they fight to defeat ISIL in their cities. The Security Council called on the people of Iraq to continue, expand and strengthen their cooperation in fighting against violence and terror, and expressed its strong support for the continued efforts of the Iraqi government to help meet the security needs in Iraq.