The spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, said in a statement to the “Al-Iraqiya” channel, “Today, a delegation from the Supreme Security Committee visited the Harir base in Erbil, to see the withdrawal of combat forces from the base, and it was confirmed in the presence of the media that there were no combat forces left at the base.” .
He added that “two days ago, the agreement was implemented at Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province, and also there were no combat forces left,” noting that “the remaining advisors at Ain al-Assad base do not exceed (9) advisors, and they were present in front of the media.
The Iraqi official pointed out that “the main task of the advisers is to provide advice to the Iraqi forces in the fight against terrorism, and air support, if we so request.”
He stressed that “Iraq has reached the point of logistical support and how to deliver and equip Iraqi forces.”
Relations between the two countries worsened and were characterized by tension, especially after a US air strike last January, which killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization militia Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside Baghdad Airport.
Last July, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States would end by the end of the year its “combat mission”; To begin a new phase of military cooperation with Baghdad.
And the American forces returned to Iraq after leaving it, in 2011, based on the “Strategic Framework Agreement”, after ISIS took control of large parts of Iraqi territory in 2014.
The US and Iraqi forces were able to expel the organization from all areas of its control in the country, after launching thousands of air strikes and providing training and military equipment to the army and other Iraqi armed forces.
And last month, the commander of the US Central Command, Kenneth McKenzie, said that “reducing the level of the US military presence will not weaken the US commitment to the broader strategic relationship with Iraq,” referring to “the continuation of counter-terrorism operations.”
new stage
In turn, the expert in Iraqi security affairs, Hamid Al-Obaidi, said: “With the announcement of the end of the American withdrawal from the country, Iraq will enter a new phase, in which there are many challenges, most notably maintaining its internal security, confronting the incursion of armed groups, as well as setting a clear framework for the nature of the relationship with Washington, according to the variables.
Al-Obaidi added, in a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, that “the Iraqi government should invest in the relationship with Washington, where a number of advisers will remain, to support the local forces, which requires achieving the largest possible amount of gains, and moving towards new horizons of cooperation, bypassing military support.” access to political support, as well as economic and other intellectual areas.
The armed factions and parties loyal to Iran question the American withdrawal from the country, and they always promote that it is a formal withdrawal, with the aim of inflaming public opinion and trying to find excuses to stay in light of the mounting demands about the necessity of ending the existence of these factions.
And the Green Zone in the center of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, was attacked at dawn last Sunday, which was considered by the media as messages from the armed factions towards the file of the American withdrawal.
The United States accuses the Iranian-backed militias of launching several attacks targeting American individuals and interests in Iraq.
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