Iraq declares US strikes are compelling the government to terminate the mission of the US-led coalition (Update 1)

According to the prime minister’s military spokesman Yahya Rasool, the repeated U.S. strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are prompting the government to consider ending the mission of the U.S.-led coalition in the country. The U.S. military confirmed a strike on Wednesday that killed a commander from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that the Pentagon has accused of attacking its troops.

Rasool stated in a press release that the U.S.-led coalition “has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict.”

The U.S.-led international military coalition in Iraq was originally established to combat the Islamic State. Currently, the United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, providing advice and assistance to local forces in order to prevent a resurgence of the group.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq and Syria have experienced nearly daily retaliatory attacks between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and U.S. forces stationed in the region.