Iraq: US-led Coalition ‘Has Become a Factor for Instability’

Iraqi federal police gather at the site of a burned vehicle targeted by a US drone strike in east Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Repeated US strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are pushing the government to end the mission of the US-led coalition in the country, the prime minister's military spokesman Yahya Rasool said on Thursday.
The US 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 US-led coalition "has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict."
The US-led international military coalition in Iraq was set up to fight ISIS. 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 Iran-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in the region.