Iraqi PM insists on ending mission of U.S.-led coalition in Iraq

Shafaq News/ Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Thursday reiterated his government's "insistence" on ending the mission of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

Al-Sudani made the remarks during a meeting with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who is on a state visit to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

"The Iraqi government is determined to end the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, and we are working with our partners in the glohal coalition to achieve this goal," al-Sudani said.

Al-Sudani and Robles expressed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations between Iraq and Spain, the readout concluded.

Earlier today, the prime minister's military spokesman Yahya Rasool said that 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 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.