The US and Iraq to negotiate end of US-led military coalition

The US is leading an international coalition in Iraq assisting the Iraqis with their security. However, events such as the escalating back and forth attacks between the coalition and the militias attacking them have led to a desire to end the coalition. The U.S. initially set preconditions requiring that the attacks against the US military stop. The US side may have dropped these preconditions.

From Reuters:

The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of Iraq and Syria before being defeated.

Hundreds of troops from other mostly European countries are also in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition that was set up to fight Islamic State.

That mission’s presence in Iraq has come under increasing pressure.

Iraq, a rare ally of both Tehran and Washington, has witnessed escalating tit-for-tat attacks between militias and U.S. forces since the Gaza war began, with the militias seeking to pressure the U.S. over its support for Israel.

U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked about 150 times by Iran-aligned militants based in Iraq, and the U.S. has conducted a series of retaliatory strikes, the latest on Tuesday.

The escalating violence has led Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to call for the quick exit of U.S.-led coalition forces via negotiations, a process that was beginning to be initiated last year but stalled when the Gaza war began.

Washington had been unwilling to negotiate a potential withdrawal while under fire, concerned it would make any change to the mission seem coerced, thereby emboldening regional rivals, including Iran.

But the calculus changed amid a realization that the attacks would likely not stop and that the status quo was leading to steady escalation, two of the sources said.

Reuters has additional information here.

Category: International Affairs, Iran, Iraq, Military issues