The Iraqi authorities, after Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced the beginning of the withdrawal of the US-led international military coalition from the country, secretly requested negotiations from the American side on the preservation of the stationed contingent. The newspaper reported this on January 9 Politico with reference to a State Department cable.
Leading advisers to the Iraqi prime minister called al-Sudani’s statement “an attempt to satisfy the domestic audience” after the airstrike in Baghdad, according to a document dated January 6. It is noted that the prime minister himself supports the presence of the coalition.
The Pentagon also stated that it had no plans to withdraw troops or any corresponding notifications from Iraq. At the same time, the publication suggests that with a certain probability the measure can be implemented by the Iraqi parliament.
According to journalists, if 2.5 thousand American troops have to leave the country, this will seriously weaken the US position in the Middle East.
Al-Sudani announced the beginning of the process of withdrawal from Iraq of the US-led international military coalition on January 5 after an American airstrike on Baghdad, during which the influential field commander Mushtaqa al-Jawar was killed. However, the Pentagon said that no civilians were injured as a result.
Earlier, on December 26, 2023, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said that the US Armed Forces attacked three facilities belonging to the Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq. As he noted, the strikes are a response to a series of attacks carried out on US troops in Iraq and Syria. According to the head of the Pentagon, the militias that attacked US bases were sponsored by Iran.
A month earlier, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that US forces in Iraq and Syria had been attacked 66 times since October 17, with at least 60 people injured.
Attacks on American bases in the Middle East have become more frequent amid the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in which the United States supported Israel.
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