Kataeb Hezbollah Renews Call for US Troop Withdrawal from Iraq Amid Ongoing Tensions
Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed armed group, has called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, expressing dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in their removal.
The US and Iraqi governments have been negotiating over the presence of US troops, who are stationed there as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
Kataeb Hezbollah's spokesperson, Abu Ali Al-Askari, stated that the group has not seen sufficient commitment from the US to withdraw troops and dismantle spy bases, and similarly, from the Iraqi government to remove them.
The US considers Kataeb Hezbollah a "terrorist" group and has carried out strikes against its operations.
Over a three-month period, US troops in the Middle East were attacked over 165 times, primarily in Iraq and Syria, with the Islamic Resistance of Iraq (IRI), an alliance of Iran-backed groups including Kataeb Hezbollah, taking responsibility for most of the assaults.
A drone attack on US personnel in Jordan on January 28, near the Syrian border, resulted in three fatalities, prompting US retaliation with strikes against Tehran-backed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah.
Following the US response, Kataeb Hezbollah announced a suspension of attacks on US forces.
In February 2023, the United States and Iraq held talks to discuss the future of the US-led coalition's presence in Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani requested an end to the mission, which involves around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria.
The coalition was initially invited to Iraq in 2014 to aid in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, which had seized large areas of both countries.