Iraq’s resistance groups say will not accept US military presence under whatsoever role, call for full withdrawal

Iraq’s resistance groups say will not accept US military presence under whatsoever role, call for full withdrawal
Several Iraqi resistance groups have opposed any presence of US military forces in their country, after Joe Biden claimed the US role in Iraq will not be a combat mission but a training and assisting one following a so-called agreement on the withdrawal of American forces.

The spokesman of Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada group, Kadhim al-Fartousi, said the talks between the Iraqi government and Biden’s administration on the withdrawal of American troops are “aimed at legitimizing the US presence in Iraq.”

Al-Fartousi added that “the Iraqi government made a grave mistake when it undertook the role of a mediator between the Resistance and the US,” in response to an agreement reached between Baghdad and Washington on the end of the US military combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year,

“By doing so, it (the Iraqi government) recognized the presence of US combat troops in Iraq,” he added.

Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement on Monday enabling the end of the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021, with the US president claiming American forces will, however, operate in the West Asian country in an advisory role.

Meanwhile, the secretary general of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq resistance group rejected the Iraqi foreign minister’s statement about the need for US forces.

Qais al-Khazali said “the statement is rejected and does not reflect the reality of the capabilities the Iraqi forces have attained.”

Speaking at a joint press conference alongside his American counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington on Friday, Fuad Hussein said Baghdad still required Washington’s help, and called for maintaining bilateral security cooperation.

Separately, Nasr al-Shammari, spokesman of Iraq’s al-Nujaba movement, also opposed any US military presence.

Commenting on certain Iraqi stances which call for the continuation of US presence in Iraq, al-Shammari said, “Whoever demands a continued US military presence in Iraq aims to gain internal power through the foreign powers.”

“US forces in Iraq did not provide an early warning against Daesh invasion, nor did they assist in confronting it,” he added.

Meanwhile, a senior leader of Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah resistance group warned the US in case it fails to pull out its forces from the Arab country.

“If the enemy does not explicitly announce the withdrawal of its forces and this is not verified in the field and by credible parliamentary national and security committees, the resistance will continue its operations in all positions until the last occupying soldier leaves Iraq,” Abu Ali al-Askari said.

The remarks echoed those of several other Iraq’s resistance groups that have voiced strong opposition to US military presence in their country, arguing they do not accept the presence of US troops under any title such as advisers or anything else.

The resistance groups underline the need for the withdrawal of US troops not only from Iraq but also from the entire West Asia region, warning if the positions of the resistance forces, whether inside or outside Iraq, are targeted from these bases, American forces will undoubtedly be within the reach of the resistance’s counterattacks.