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The Iraqi government is forming a committee to end the United States-led international coalition’s mission in the country, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office announced on January 5.
“Government is setting the date for the start of the bilateral committee to put arrangements to end the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq permanently,” a statement from the PM’s office said.
The announcement came a day after a U.S. drone strike killed Mushtaq Talib “Abu Taqwa” al-Saidi, a senior commander of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, prompting anger among Iran-aligned parties and armed factions in Iraq who demanded the government end the presence of the coalition in Iraq.
“We stress our firm position in ending the existence of the international coalition after the justifications for its existence have ended,” al-Sudani was quoted as saying in the statement released by his office.
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, which is backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is a part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which is officially recognized by the Iraqi government. It is also thought to be one of the main factions of a shadowy group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq which carried out more than a hundred attacks against U.S. forces in the country and neighboring Syria since the start of the Israel war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Abu Taqwa was targeted while he was in a PMF headquarters located within a complex of the Iraqi Interior Ministry in Baghdad’s Palestine neighborhood.
The Pentagon said that the commander was killed in response to recent attacks that targeted U.S. forces in both countries.
The U.S. has 2,500 in Iraq and 900 in Syria on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of ISIS.
Expelling U.S.-led coalition forces from Iraq will not be easy, as Washington is determined to maintain this presence. An exit from Iraq will most likely force the U.S. to also withdraw its forces from Syria, which are mainly supplied through the country. This would be a major win for Iran and its allies in the so-called Axis of Resistance.
