Iraqis Demand Expulsion of U.S. Troops After Attack

BAGHDAD (KI) -- Iraq’s government condemned on Tuesday overnight U.S. airstrikes on Iraqi military positions that it said killed one serviceman and wounded 18 other people, calling them a “clear hostile act”.

The United States has carried out airstrikes on Monday in Iraq after a one-way drone attack earlier in the day left one U.S. service member in critical condition and wounded two others.
The government condemned the U.S. strikes as “an unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty”. Two Iraqi security sources said overnight U.S. airstrikes targeted headquarters for Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah in the Iraqi city of Hilla south of Baghdad.
One fighter from Kataib Hezbollah was killed in the strikes and 16 were wounded, said two security sources on condition of anonymity.
The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq. Washington has repeatedly targeted sites used by resistance forces in Iraq and Syria fighting against terrorist groups, including Daesh which seeks to revive its reign of terror after being defeated in the two Arab countries with the help of Iran.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced the overnight strikes, saying that “U.S. military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq”.
On Monday, a drone strike by Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups targeted Arbil Air Base, Austin said. It wounded three U.S. military personnel, one critically, said US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson.
President Joe Biden had directed the U.S. strikes in a call with Austin and other national security officials, a statement said.
The latest drone attack Monday against American forces was claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a formation of resistance groups affiliated with the Hashd al-Shaabi.
A funeral was held for the dead fighter, attended by hundreds of people who shouted “No, no to America”.
Many in the crowd carried Hashed flags and photos of Iran’s legendary anti-terror commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani who was assassinated in a U.S. strike in Baghdad in January 2020 after helping the Iraqis to defeat Daesh.
Baghdad strongly condemned the latest U.S. military action.
“It runs counter to the pursuit of enduring mutual interests in establishing security and stability, and it opposes the declared intention of the American side to enhance relations with Iraq,” it said in a statement.
Prominent Hashd leader Hadi al-Amiri denounced the U.S. strikes, in a message on his Telegram channel, demanding that the Iraqi government “set a timeline for the departure of these foreign forces at the earliest opportunity”.
He said that their presence had “become a factor of destruction for our country and a threat to our children”.
There is no need for the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, Ameri said, warning that their presence will only destroy the country and shed the blood of Iraqi people.
Iraq’s Al-Nujaba movement also condemned U.S. airstrikes in a statement, saying Washington has once again violated the sovereignty of Iraq.

By committing this “heinous act” of targeting the headquarters of Iraq’s  security forces, including the federal police and Hashd al-Shaabi as well as civilian infrastructure, it said, the U.S. has proved  that it neither respects the country’s laws nor the will of its people.

This behavior of the Americans has once again showed that the U.S. has a military presence in Iraq not an advisory one as it claims, it added.

A U.S. military tally has counted 105 attacks against its troops in Iraq and Syria since October 17, most claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which opposes U.S. support for Israel in its barbaric war on the besieged Gaza Strip.