Iraq Forms an Alliance with Russia, Syria and Iran to Fight ISIS

The Iraqi military has announced an agreement on "security and intelligence cooperation" with Russia, Iran and Syria to help combat the Islamic State group.

In a statement released Sunday, Iraq says the coordination will "help and cooperate in collecting information about the terrorist Daesh group," using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Iraq has long had close ties with neighboring Iran and has coordinated with Tehran in fighting the advance of IS — which controls about a third of Iraq and Syria. Iranian commanders have helped lead Iraqi Shiite militiamen in combat.

The agreement with Russia comes at a time when Moscow is ramping up its involvement in Syria in defense of its ally Bashar Assad, with Russian soldiers on the ground in Syria, according to activists.