The Government and Army of Iraq reaffirmed this Thursday, February 8, the decision to end the international coalition to fight against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), led by the United States, after the attack by this country in Baghdad, in which the leader of a pro-Iran militia died.
First modification:
3 min
“An air raid in the heart of a residential neighborhood of the capital (…) obliges the Iraqi Government more than ever to put an end to the mission of this (international) coalition, which has become a factor of instability,” said the spokesman for the Iraqi Army, Yahya Rasul, in a statement to the public. public released this Thursday, February 8, which also added that Washington's presence “endangers civil peace” within the country.
The US announced on Wednesday that it killed a “commander” of the pro-Iran militia Kataib Hezbollah during a bombing raid in eastern Baghdad, who, according to the US Armed Forces Central Command, was “directly responsible” for planning the attack. that group's attacks against US forces deployed in the Middle East.
The United States commands an international mission inside Iraq that aims to repel the presence of the Islamic State in that territory, partially occupied by that jihadist group in 2014 and which was not completely neutralized until 2017.
Since then, the coalition “constantly deviates from the reasons and objectives of its presence” in Iraq, according to Rasul.
The Baghdad official also referred to a specific time frame for ending the US presence in the territory, indicating that the bilateral military committee, created last year with the objective of planning the permanent departure of international forces, will return to its work on February 11, with the mission of accelerating the structuring of Iraqi national security without the help of the coalition.
Read alsoThe US and Iraq negotiate the end of the international coalition against the jihadist group Islamic State
The statements from the Iraqi Army come after the US bombing in Baghdad, on Wednesday, February 7, in which a commander of Kataib Hezbollah was killed, the group responsible for the death of three US soldiers in a drone attack on January 28 in the border between Jordan and Syria.
'We fully respect Iraqi sovereignty,' US says
In response to the Iraqi accusations, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said that the bombing in Baghdad had as its sole target Commander Abu Baqir al-Saadi, whom the United States “has complete confidence” was the only passenger in the car that was the target of the attack.
Ryder insisted that the bombing of Washington only claimed the life of al-Saadi, contradicting Iraqi reports that two other people were killed.
“We of course fully respect Iraqi sovereignty and have been very clear in our public statements and private conversations that we will respond at times and places of our choosing against groups that have been attacking US forces,” Ryder said at a news conference. press.
With EFE and Reuters
#Iraq #reaffirms #decision #international #coalition #attack #Baghdad
