Iraq PM Says Determined To End Presence Of US-led Coalition

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said Friday he was determined to "put an end" to the international anti-militants coalition in his country, after a US strike killed a military commander

Baghdad, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2024) Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said Friday he was determined to "put an end" to the international anti-militants coalition in his country, after a US strike killed a military commander.

Sudani has repeatedly said in recent weeks he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq.

But the latest remarks came amid soaring regional tensions, with the repercussions of the Israel-Palestinians war, raging for nearly three months, increasingly felt in Iraq and across the middle East.

A US drone strike on Thursday killed a military commander and another member of Harakat al-Nujaba, a faction of Hashed al-Shaabi -- a collection of mainly former paramilitary units now integrated into the Iraqi armed forces.

Washington labelled the attack in Iraq's capital an act of self-defence, while Sudani's government decried it as an act of "blatant aggression" on the part of the US-led coalition.

The Iraqi premier on Friday "affirmed (his) firm position seeking to put an end to the existence of the international coalition, as the justifications for its existence have ended", according to a statement from by his office.

He said "dialogue" to take place soon would "determine the procedure to end this presence", the statement said.

Sudani was speaking at a commemoration for slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who led the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations and was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.