Tribe leaders from Iraq's northern Nineveh province said on Sunday that the Iraqi prime minister's hostile attitude toward Turkey is "foolish" in a meeting in Irbil.

The leaders came together at the "Nineveh ‘yes' to liberation ‘no' to destruction" meeting in Irbil and expressed their gratitude for Turkey's support in liberating cities and its contribution to fighting terrorism. They also objected to the participation of Iran-backed radical Shiite militia group al-Hashd al-Shaabi's role in the Mosul operation.

It was also discussed that the Iraqi regime has being negligent about its national interests and has shown ingratitude to the countries who bestowed favors on them. "As tribe leaders leading people of Iraq, we are expressing our objection to Haider al-Abadi decisions against our ally Turkey, which provides military and humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people," leaders said in a statement.

"While Qasem Soleimani [major general of the Iranain Quds Force] and his militias trod on corpses of Iraqis in Sulaymaniyah, Diyala, Kirkuk and Baghdad, not bothering the Iraqi government, they show hostility against Turkey," the statement concluded.