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)
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)
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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)
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.



Israeli Strikes across Northern Gaza Kill at Least 14 People, Including a Family of 5

 Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Strikes across Northern Gaza Kill at Least 14 People, Including a Family of 5

 Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
Destroyed buildings are seen inside the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)

At least 14 Palestinians, including a family of five people, were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes Monday in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.

One strike hit a group of people in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, killing at least seven people including two children, the health ministry’s emergency service said.

Two more people were killed in Jabaliya al-Balad area in northern Gaza, it said. Another five people were wounded in the strike, it said.

A third strike hit Salaheddin school, which shelters displaced families in the western part of Gaza City. The strike killed two parents and their three children, according to the Al-Ahly hospital which received the casualties.

The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment on the strikes but blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying the fighters operate in residential areas or other civilian locations.