Iraq’s president has warned that Isis still proves a threat to his country.

Barham Salih also cautioned that security in his oil-rich, war-ravaged nation remained fragile.

At the opening of a security and economy conference on Wednesday in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, Mr Salih said it was “unacceptable” for other countries to use Iraq to settle their scores.

“The victory against Isis was an important one and we cannot downplay it,” Mr Salih said.

“But this was a battlefield and military victory. The caliphate has been eliminated. But there are still sleeper cells and extremist groups along the Syrian border,” he added.

“The danger and the risk of Isis hasn’t been eliminated.”

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the city’s entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Speakers at the conference noted improved security throughout the country following the near total elimination of Isis’s vast self-declared Islamic caliphate across Syria and Iraq in a four-year war.

But Iraqi politicians, international officials and scholars also warned of other dangers amid rising public expectations for better schools, healthcare, running water and sewage systems.

Iraqis continue to vote and participate in a political system established following the 2003 US invasion, but disillusionment and anger have grown amid continuing failures and incompetence of the country’s political leaders.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars in aid money have poured into Iraq in recent years,” said Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert, the head of the UN’s mission to Iraq. “How is it possible that services are so bad? Corruption is pervasive in all levels of Iraq.”

The Sulaymaniyah Forum conference at the American University of Iraq was first held in 2013. It was cancelled last year amid a blockade imposed on Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish-led region following a controversial independence referendum that angered Turkey, Iran, and the government in Baghdad.

Relations have since improved with neighbouring countries. But the Trump administration’s scuttling of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran has put fresh pressures on Iraq. The countries share a 900-mile border and deep economic and religious ties.

Washington has demanded that Iraq downgrade energy and other ties with Iran. But Mr Salih warned that his country could be plunged into fresh crises if outside powers sought to use Iraq to settle scores.

“We don’t want Iraq to be part of these conflicts,” he said. “This is not a very stable situation and putting an extra political burden on Iraq is not acceptable.”

International officials in Iraq have been watching the rising tensions between Iran and the US with alarm.

Jon Wilks, UK ambassador to Baghdad, urged Iraqi officials to define clear “parameters” with outside powers, and not let the country get dragged into others’ conflicts.

“The problem we have at the moment is that the US has imposed sanctions on Iran and there is an atmosphere of confrontation,” Mr Wilks told a packed room on Wednesday.

“Iran sees itself in a very threatening regional global environment. It’s using all the tools in its toolbox to defend itself.”

Andrew Peek, a US diplomat speaking at the conference, acknowledged that Iraq should have a “normal relationship” with Iran and not become “a playground for outside powers”.

Without explicitly naming him, Mr Peek referred to Qassem Suleimani, commander of Iran’s foreign expeditionary force, in trying to illustrate the country’s unhealthy influence over Iraq.

“I travel to Iraq about once a month,” he said. “I come through the airport, get my passport stamped, go through customs and get into a car. There is a particularly well-known general officer from one of the neighbouring countries who does not do these things, who has so intimidated local authorities that people do not ask for any identification. That is not a normal relationship.”

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo sits with PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi amid unannounced stop in Iraq during Middle East tour

Beyond Iraq’s international problems, internal squabbling continues. Baghdad has yet to name key cabinet posts – including ministries of defence and interior – 10 months after general elections, amid a parliamentary deadlock that has further alienated the public from the political class.

“If you’re weak, of course other countries will take advantage of you,” said Laith Kubba, an adviser to Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Failure to address the country’s divisions and fractures could contribute to the resurrection of another insurgency, he warned.