Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that the axis of extremism, exclusion and elimination which was formed by certain countries in the region has been defeated in every battlefield it entered after being faced by an opposing axis.

In an interview given to al-Mayadeen TV on Friday, al-Maliki said that this axis of extremism has been defeated in Syria, as the world has come to realize that those who are fighting the Syrian government on the ground are al-Qaeda terrorists.

"I reiterate: If the alternative to the current regime in Syria is al-Qaeda, then the international community - including us - must intervene and join the fight against this organization, because otherwise it will burn the entire region," he said.

"Our information - and we're close to Syria and I myself lived in it a long time and I still have contact with many clans and individuals in Syria and with the Syrian government - indicate that the opposing coalition on the ground, and that the free army is a bubble that has burst," al-Maliki elaborated.

He further added that the ones who have weapons and influence on the ground are al-Qaeda, and those who talk about "supporting the opposition" in Syria are actually supporting al- Qaeda, al-Nusra Front and the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL].

He asserted that al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist organizations like the ISIL and al-Nusra were brought into Iraq as part of a plot to bring down Baghdad, the political process in it, and the Iraqi constitution.

In parallel, he affirmed that the events in al-Anbar province of Iraq are the result of a foreign conspiracy implemented by elements inside the country, but the Iraqi army curbed this plot and prevented it from spreading to other provinces.

In another interview given to BBC, al-Maliki said that Iraq's position regarding the crisis in Syria was correct, whereas the Arab League and some Security Council members assumed erroneous positions that led to bloodshed in Syria and the escalation of the crisis in it.

He stressed that those who are betting on a military solution in Syria will not succeed. "The weapons provided by some countries to the "opposition" end up in the hands of murderers from al-Qaeda, and that national, religious and human duty requires one to combat al-Qaeda in Syria.

Al-Maliki also said that Saudi Arabia, which is enslaved by political and sectarian mentality and conceptions, interferes blatantly in Iraq's internal affairs, helps terrorists to enter it, and pay them.