Baghdad announced, on Friday, the formation of a bilateral committee with the United States, whose mission is to determine arrangements for ending the mission of the international coalition to combat ISIS, led by Washington, in Iraq.
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, said: “We are in the process of setting the date for the start of the dialogue, through the bilateral committee that was formed to determine the arrangements for the end of this presence, and it is a commitment that the government will not back down from, and will not neglect everything that would complete national sovereignty over the land, sky and waters of Iraq.” “.
Al-Sudani affirmed “the firm and principled position in ending the existence of the international coalition after the justifications for its existence have ended.”
There are approximately 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq, as part of Washington’s efforts to prevent the return of ISIS, which occupied large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The formation of the committee comes a day after a drone targeted the headquarters of the “Al-Nujaba Movement”, which is part of the “Popular Mobilization Forces” factions, resulting in the killing of the movement’s military official, Talib Ali Al-Saidi, nicknamed “Abu Taqwa.” Other members of Al-Nujaba were also killed as a result of the strike, according to those close to Al-Nujaba.
In a statement to Al-Hurra, a military official at the Pentagon explained that, at 12 noon Iraqi time, American forces took necessary and proportionate action against “Abu Taqwa,” an official in the Al-Nujaba movement, who was “involved in planning and launching attacks against American forces.
The official added that the air strike led to the killing of Abu Taqwa and another member.
He continued, “The air strike was launched in self-defense, and did not harm civilians, and no infrastructure or facility was struck.”
An American official previously confirmed to Al-Hurra that the United States “continues to take measures to protect its forces in Iraq and Syria, and by addressing the threats they face.”
These developments came in the wake of American forces being exposed to more than 110 attacks in Iraq and Syria since mid-October.
On the other hand, Al-Sudani said, on Friday, that “the most serious incidents are those that have been repeated more than once in Iraq through attacks by international coalition forces against the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces,” adding: “We have repeatedly stressed that in the event of a violation or transgression by any Iraqi party, Or if Iraqi law is violated, the Iraqi government is the only body that has the right to follow up on the merits of these violations.”
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2024-01-05 08:56:27
