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Senior Cleric Urges Ousting US Troops from Iraq

Senior Cleric Urges Ousting US Troops from Iraq
folder_openIraq access_time3 years ago
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By Staff, Agencies

Baghdad's Friday prayer leader Sayyed Yassin al-Mousawi called to put more effort into making US troops leave the Iraqi territory.

“The Americans have to be ousted because they do not intend to leave by themselves. Only resistance can expel them”, Press TV cited Sayyed al-Mousawi as saying.

The cleric added that those who strive for “the continuation of the US presence in the region, and for no resistance to take place against it” are actually “seeking to delay the end of injustice over the world”.

The remarks came after spokesman for the Iraqi armed forces' commander-in-chief, Abdul Karim Khalaf, said in late April that Iraq and the US will “discuss a schedule for the full withdrawal of American troops from the country during talks in June”.

Khalaf added that bilateral security operations, the military training of Iraqi forces, and exchange of experience will continue even after the US troop pullout.

"The US has significantly reduced the number of its troops per agreement with the Iraqi government as a gesture of goodwill. There is mutual understanding and positive signals”, Khalaf pointed out.

The spokesman’s statement followed then-Iraqi Prime Minister-designate, Mustafa al-Kadhimi vowing in mid-April to defend his country’s national security as the US was deploying additional weapons to Iraq.

While American troops left at least four bases throughout March and transferred them to Iraqi security forces, the US has also deployed two Patriot missile batteries and some other anti-aircraft short-range systems at two other bases.

The redeployment was preceded by the Iraqi parliament voting to expel all foreign troops from the country on 5 January. The move came shortly after a US precision drone strike assassinated Iran’s IRGC Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units’ second-in-command Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis near Baghdad, to which Tehran responded by firing missiles at two Iraqi bases where US occupation forces were positioned.

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