The Egyptian Foreign Ministry welcomed on Sunday the formation of a new Iraqi unity government charged with fighting a rising Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) insurgency.

The Iraqi parliament has appointed new Ministers of Defence and Interior, a Sunni and Shi’a respectively. It is seen as a move that “allows Iraq to move steadily towards restoring stability” and “achieving the aspirations of Iraqis” in thecountry’s ongoing fight against hard-line Islamic militants.

The Foreign Ministry’s statement also reiterated the “important role” occupied by Iraqis in the Arab world.

Iraq has been threatened by ISIS since the group made several advances in recent months. The group has succeeded in capturing the city of Mosul, and allegedly taken command of billions of dollars in American war machinery abandoned by retreating Iraqi forces.

The US, which has spent years and considerable sums of money training the battered Iraqi Army, recently formed a coalition to carry out airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria.