Iraq Says US Strikes Pushing Government to End U.S.-Led Coalition’s Mission

DUBAI (Reuters) – Repeated U.S. strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are pushing the government to end the mission of the U.S.-led coalition in the country, the prime minister’s military spokesman Yahya Rasool said on Thursday.

The U.S. military said a strike on Wednesday killed a commander from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that the Pentagon has blamed for attacking its troops.

Rasool said in a statement that the U.S.-led coalition “has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict.”

The U.S.-led international military coalition in Iraq was set up to fight Islamic State. The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of the group.

Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, Iraq and Syria have witnessed almost daily tit-for-tat attacks between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and U.S. forces stationed in the region.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Timour Azhari; Editing by Michael Georgy and Timothy Heritage)

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