The Iraqi government is taking measures to end a U.S.-led military coalition’s presence in the country, according to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
“The government is setting a date for the launch of a bilateral committee to make arrangements to end the presence of international coalition forces in Iraq permanently,” Mr. Al-Sudani’s office said in a Jan. 5 statement.
The announcement comes a day after an Iraqi militia leader was killed by a U.S. strike in Baghdad.
Some 2,500 American troops are currently deployed at military bases throughout the country. About 900 others are stationed at U.S. bases in eastern Syria, which shares a border with Iraq.
The deployments are part of a U.S.-led international coalition ostensibly tasked with preventing a resurgence of the ISIS terrorist group. Said to be an offshoot of al-Qaeda, ISIS overran vast swaths of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
By 2019, the shadowy terrorist group was said to have been largely eradicated.
In the statement released by his office, Mr. Al-Sudani stressed Baghdad’s “firm position on ending the international coalition [in Iraq] after the justification for its existence has ended.”
According to the U.S. State Department, 86 countries are nominal members of the coalition, along with the European Union, NATO, and Interpol.
In addition to fighting the remnants of ISIS, the coalition’s mandate includes “training and assisting” local groups and militias allied with the United States.
On Jan. 4, Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, leader of Iraq’s Harakat al-Nujaba militia group, was killed by a U.S. strike in Baghdad. Harakat al-Nujaba is an “Iranian proxy” implicated in planning and executing recent attacks on U.S. military forces in Iraq and Syria, according to the Pentagon.
Witnesses and police sources cited by Reuters said the group’s headquarters was struck by at least two rockets fired by an attack drone.
Officials in Baghdad were quick to condemn the U.S. strike.
In a statement, Yehia Rasool, a military spokesman for the prime minister, described the strike as a “blatant attack” and a “violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and security.”
He went on to assert that the U.S. strike was “no different from a terrorist act.”
Complicating the situation, Mr. Al-Jawari appears to have been a high-ranking member of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shiite militias nominally under the control of Iraq’s military.
In a statement, the PMF appeared to confirm that its deputy head of operations in Baghdad had been killed “as a result of American aggression.”
According to PMF-linked media outlets, the strike targeted the organization’s headquarters in eastern Baghdad, killing Mr. Al-Jawari and another PMF member.
This was further confirmed by Mr. Rasool, who blamed the U.S.-led coalition for what he described as an “unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body.”
Speaking on behalf of Iraq’s military, he said: “We view this strike as a dangerous escalation and an attack on Iraq.”
ISIS Returns
According to Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the strike that killed Mr. Al-Jawari was an act of “self-defense.”“This particular individual was involved in the planning and execution of attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria, which, by definition, is a threat,” he said at a Jan. 4 press briefing.
Since early October 2023, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have come under repeated drone and rocket attacks by local militia groups. The attacks coincide with the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has left thousands of Palestinians—mostly civilians—dead.
As a means of showing solidarity with Gaza, local militias have targeted military assets of the United States, long regarded as Israel’s No. 1 ally.
According to American officials, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack—typically by rockets and drones—more than 120 times since mid-October 2023.
“These attacks have continued, putting U.S. forces in danger,” Mr. Ryder told reporters.
“We maintain the inherent right of self-defense, and we’ll continue to take necessary actions to protect our personnel.”
When asked if the United States had provided Baghdad with a warning of the strike that killed Mr. Al-Jawari, he declined to comment.
“Iraq is an important and valued partner,” Mr. Ryder said.
“Our forces are there at the invitation of the government of Iraq—to help train and advise—in support of the Defeat ISIS mission.”
Shortly before Mr. Ryder’s press briefing, ISIS emerged from the shadows to claim responsibility for a double bombing in southeastern Iran that left scores dead on Jan. 3.
“No one wants to see a return of ISIS, which, by the way, just claimed responsibility for the attacks we saw yesterday in Iran,” the Pentagon spokesman said.
“So our focus is going to continue to remain on the Defeat ISIS mission.”
On the evening of Jan. 5, unconfirmed reports emerged that a U.S. military base in eastern Syria had come under attack by Iraqi Shiite militiamen.
