U.S. drone strike pushes Iraq to end U.S.-led coalition mission: military spokesman-Xinhua

U.S. drone strike pushes Iraq to end U.S.-led coalition mission: military spokesman

Source: Xinhua| 2024-02-08 21:19:30|Editor:

BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government said Thursday that the U.S. drone strike in eastern Baghdad Wednesday evening pushed the Iraqi government more than ever to end the mission of the U.S.-led coalition forces.

The drone bombarded a sport utility vehicle of paramilitary Hashd Shaabi Forces in the al-Mashtal neighborhood, killing at least three people, including Abu Baqir al-Saadi, a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that has links to Hashd Shaabi Forces.

Yahya Rasoul, the military spokesman of the Iraqi prime minister, said in a statement that the U.S. forces once again committed a reckless assassination in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Baghdad.

"This path pushes the Iraqi government, more than ever before, to end the mission of the international coalition, which has become a factor of instability for Iraq," Rasoul said.

The U.S. Central Command said in a post on the social media platform X Thursday that the killed commander is "responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region."

Meanwhile, Spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command Tahsin al-Khafaji said in a separate statement that the U.S. drone attack "undermines all agreements between Iraq and the United States."

"We hold the American side and the coalition forces responsible for the repercussions of these dangerous actions that threaten the security and safety of the country and clearly undermine all ongoing talks that take place between Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition," al-Khafaji said.

Iraq and the United States began the first round of dialogue on Jan. 27 to discuss ending the U.S.-led coalition's mission in Iraq. However, later in the day, three U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack on a U.S. base near Jordan's border with Syria, which the United States said was carried out by an Iranian-backed armed group named Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

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