Iraq PM: Country Seeks Quick Exit of US Forces but No Deadline Set

An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)
An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)
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Iraq PM: Country Seeks Quick Exit of US Forces but No Deadline Set

An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)
An Iraqi soldier salutes from a military vehicle as they take part in a parade marking the Iraqi Army's 103 anniversary in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Iraq, 06 January 2024. (EPA)

Iraq wants a quick and orderly negotiated exit of US-led military forces from its soil but has not set a deadline, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, describing their presence as destabilizing amid regional spillover from the Gaza war.
Longstanding calls by mostly Shi'ite Muslim factions, many close to Iran, for the US-led coalition's departure have gained steam after a series of US strikes on Iran-linked militant groups that are also part of Iraq's formal security forces.
Those strikes, which came in response to dozens of drone and missile attacks on US forces since Israel launched its Gaza campaign, have raised fears that Iraq could once again become a theater for regional conflict.
"There is a need to reorganize this relationship so that it is not a target or justification for any party, internal or foreign, to tamper with stability in Iraq and the region," Sudani told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Giving the first details of his thinking about the future of the coalition since his Jan. 5 announcement that Iraq would begin the process of closing it down, Sudani said the exit should be negotiated under "a process of understanding and dialogue".
"Let's agree on a time frame (for the coalition's exit) that is, honestly, quick, so that they don't remain long and the attacks keep happening," he said, noting that only an end to Israel's war on Gaza would stop the risk of regional escalation.
"This (end of the Gaza war) is the only solution. Otherwise, we will see more expansion of the arena of conflict in a sensitive region for the world that holds much of its energy supply," Sudani said.
A US withdrawal would likely increase concern in Washington about the influence of arch foe Iran over Iraq's ruling elite. Iran-backed Shi'ite groups gained strength in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Pentagon on Monday said it had no plans to withdraw US troops, which are in Iraq at the invitation of its government.
Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, has been among the fiercest critics of Israel's Gaza campaign, describing the mass killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians as a textbook case of genocide, claims Israel vehemently denies.
But Iraq's government has repeatedly also said the attacks by armed groups on foreign forces and diplomatic missions in Iraq were illegal and went against the country's interests, and says it has arrested some perpetrators and prevented attacks.
At the same time, Baghdad has condemned US strikes on bases used by the groups, as well as a recent strike against a senior militia commander in the heart of Baghdad, as grave violations of sovereignty.
Critics say the armed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah and Haraket Hezbollah al-Nujaba, use their status as members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state security force that began as a grouping of militias in 2014, as a cover.
When striking at US forces, they operate outside the chain of command under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq; when the US retaliates, they mourn their losses as members of the PMF and reap the rewards of rising anti-US sentiment.
US-led forces invaded Iraq and toppled former leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, withdrawing in 2011 but then returning in 2014 to fight ISIS as part of an international coalition. The US currently has some 2,500 troops in Iraq.
With ISIS territorially defeated in 2017 and on the demise ever since, Sudani said the coalition's raison d'etre had long-since ended.
YEARS IN THE MAKING
But calls for the coalition's withdrawal have been around for years and, so far, little has changed. Iraq's parliament in 2020 voted for its departure days after the US assassinated top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi militant commander in a strike outside Baghdad airport.
The next year, the US announced the end of its combat mission in Iraq and a shift to advising and assisting Iraqi security forces, a move that changed little on the ground.
The Gaza war has put the issue back in center stage, with many Iraqi groups that brought Sudani's government to power and are close to Tehran calling for the final exit of all foreign forces, a move long sought by Iran and its regional allies.
The chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah group, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech on Friday that US strikes in Iraq should pave the way for the final withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, which would also make their presence in northeastern Syria untenable.
Sudani said he was seeking the coalition's exit because Iraq could now defend itself from terrorism and should exert full sovereignty over its territory - thereby avoiding giving anyone an excuse to draw Iraq into regional conflict.
"Ending its presence will prevent more tensions and the entanglement of internal and regional security issues," Sudani said.
He said Iraq was open to establishing bilateral relations and engaging in security cooperation with coalition nations, including the US. This could include training and advising Iraqi security forces as well as weapons purchases.
The US "is not an enemy to us and we are not at war with it, but if these tensions continue it will definitely impact and create a gap in this relationship," he said.



Lebanese Govt. to Seek New IMF Program, Policy Statement Says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
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Lebanese Govt. to Seek New IMF Program, Policy Statement Says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas//File Photo

Lebanon's new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new program and will work to deal with the country's financial default and public debt, according to a policy statement approved by the cabinet late on Monday.

The statement, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, said the government would work for an economical revival that could only be achieved through restructuring the banking sector.

Lebanon has been in deep economic crisis since 2019, when its financial system collapsed under the weight of massive state debts, prompting a sovereign default in 2020 and freezing ordinary depositors out of their savings in the banking system.

Beirut reached a draft funding deal with IMF in 2022 - contingent on reforms that authorities failed to deliver.

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, who took office as part of a new government agreed earlier this month, told Reuters an IMF mission is expected to visit Lebanon in March.

Jaber said he had met the IMF's resident representative in Lebanon, Frederico Lima, and confirmed that the government plans to move ahead with reforms.

Lebanon's political landscape has been turned on its head since the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, long a dominant player in Lebanese politics, was badly pummelled in last year's war with Israel.

Reflecting the shift in the power balance, the government policy statement did not include language used in previous years that was seen to legitimize a role for Hezbollah in defending Lebanon, saying instead "we want a state that has the decision of war and peace".

The statement said it was required to adopt a national security strategy and a foreign policy that works to 'neutralize' Lebanon from conflicts.

In the field of energy, the Lebanese government will seek to resume work in oil and gas exploration, according to the cabinet statement. It said the government planned to establish a Ministry of Technology and Artificial Intelligence.

With a new administration in neighboring Syria, the statement said the Lebanese government believed it has an opportunity to start a serious dialogue aimed at controlling and demarcating the borders and working to resolve the issue of displaced Syrians in Lebanon.