Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Iran and Russia were said to have been operating a war room in Iraq to block Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

The Lebanese daily Al Mustaqbal reported that Iran and Russia were operating a joint operations center in Iraq. The daily, quoting Iraqi sources, said the joint facility focused on stopping the advance of ISIL toward Baghdad.

“Russian experts with Iranian experts and military commanders in Iraq assigned to confront ISIL contributed to the formation of a joint operations room,” Al Mustaqbal said.

In a report on Oct. 23, the newspaper said Russia deployed scores of military advisers for the operations center with Iran. Al Mustaqbal said the Iranians and Russians were advising the Iraqi Defense Ministry as well as training soldiers and Iraqi pilots on flying Russian aircraft.

There was no confirmation of the report. But Russia has announced exports of attack helicopters to Baghdad as well as training and maintenance personnel.

The United States was said to have a large foreign presence in Iraq. But Kurdish sources said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was overseeing a force of some 5,000 in northern Iraq.

“There are a number of Russian and Iranian experts that were overseeing the latest developments in Iraq as well as the battles with ISIL,” an Iraqi source was quoted as saying.

  Iran, Report: Russia steps into U.S. void in Iraq, Russia, WorldTribune.com