Pro-Iran fighters demand US withdrawal from Iraq – DW – 02/04/2024
The Popular Mobilization Units (UMP), a coalition of former paramilitaries close to Iran, demanded the withdrawal of international anti-jihadist coalition troops from Iraq during the funeral of 16 of its fighters killed this Sunday (02/04/2024). The US strikes… against the targets of groups it considers responsible for the deaths of three US soldiers in Jordan.
“They attacked administrative compounds, a (PMU) hospital, they attacked the forces responsible for defending the borders,” coalition chief Faleh al Fayyad said in a speech during the funeral in Baghdad. He said, “We urge the Prime Minister to do everything in his power to protect the sovereignty and dignity of Iraq. This will not happen without removing these forces from Iraqi territory, and not without liberating Iraqi territory from any foreign presence. Will be done.”
Al Fayyad said that “this incident will not go unnoticed because it represents a brazen attack.” “The blood of the forces of the Popular Mobilization Units represents the dignity of Iraq and we will not accept that the blood of our children is cheap political material,” he said during his speech at the ceremony. The pride of the armed forces, to which they are truly integrated, and the pride of Iraqis.
legitimate groups in iraq
These statements come after the death of 45 people due to the bombardment that the US launched this Friday against more than 85 targets and facilities linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in eastern Syria and western Iraq, in retaliation against pro-Iranian militias Who had three killed in action. His troops were in Jordan last week.
The Popular Mobilization Units were created in 2014 after a religious order to counter the threat of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, they were integrated into the Iraqi Armed Forces in 2016 and are composed primarily of pro-Iranian Shia militias. Who played the lead role. Role. In the defeat of the jihadist group in 2017, which helped them legitimize themselves and even allowed their political wing to enter the Iraqi parliament.
About 2,500 US troops are deployed in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of a coalition formed in 2014 to combat the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
dzc (AFP, EFE)