MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) -The Iraqi government has approved a new defense and interior minister, completing a unity government, seen as a necessary step in fighting Islamic State (IS) militants, the BBC reported Saturday.
The two remaining posts were filled in Mohammed Salem Ghabban, a Shia, appointed as interior minister and Khaled Obeidi, a Sunni, appointed as defense minister.
On September 8, the Iraqi government swore in a new unity government in the capital, Baghdad, which would be more inclusive of the Sunni and Kurdish minority, following a long political stand-off.
The incoming Shia prime minister, Haider Abadi, in September released a statement pledging to work with all Iraqi communities following the forced resignation of former prime ministers Nouri Maliki in August, as reported by the Time magazine.
Meanwhile, there is ongoing fighting between the Iraqi government, assisted by the US led coalition airstrikes, in Anbar province.
A curfew was imposed on Friday in the city of Ramadi in Anbar amid intense fighting, which, if seized by the IS, would enable the militants to launch attacks on the Baghdad, according to BBC.
The US-led coalition has conducted 25 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, on Friday and Saturday, with civilian casualties reported by the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights.
In September, US President Barack Obama announced his decision to form an international anti-IS coalition. Washington extended its airstrikes against the militants into Syria, while continuing airstrikes against the group's targets in Iraq. Obama said the United States would arm and equip Kurds, Iraqis and Syria's moderate opposition in an effort to eradicate the IS.
The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadi group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq, seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control.
