Iraqi military slams US as ‘factor for instability’ after Baghdad strike

The Iraqi Armed Forces labeled America a “factor for instability” and suggested that US troops be booted from the country following a US drone strike in Baghdad that killed a senior militia commander.

Yahya Rasool, the spokesperson for Iraq’s commander-in-chief, blasted the US on Thursday for the drone strike that killed Wissam Mohammed “Abu Bakr” al-Saadi, the commander of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria.

Rasool described Wednesday’s attack as “a blatant assassination through an airstrike in the heart of a residential neighborhood in the capital, Baghdad, showing no regard for civilian lives or international laws.”

The Iraqi official said that the bold airstrike — part of President Biden’s retaliatory assaults over the deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan last month — was enough for the government to order US troops to exit the nation.

“This trajectory compels the Iraqi government more than ever to terminate the mission of this coalition, which has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict, and our armed forces cannot neglect their constitutional duties and responsibilities,” Rasool said.

“By this act, the American forces jeopardize civil peace, violate Iraqi sovereignty, and disregard the safety and lives of our citizens,” he added. “Even more concerning is that the coalition consistently deviates from the reasons and objectives for its presence on our territory.”

Although America’s combat mission in Iraq formally concluded in 2021, about 2,500 soldiers remain, mostly in Baghdad, to help combat Islamic extremist groups.

The strike that killed al-Saadi also killed two other Iran-backed militants tied to Kataib Hezbollah, with no other deaths or injuries reported when the vehicle they were in was blown up in Baghdad’s Mashtal neighborhood.

US Central Command said the strike in Baghdad killed “a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region.”  

Al-Saadi would have been the man in charge when the American base in Jordan was hit by the deadly drone strike near the Syrian border, where the US had worked with allied forces to fight off Islamic State terrorists.   

US officials pointed to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, as the perpetrators of the attack in Jordan, with Kataib Hezbollah accused of leading the assault.  

Central Command said the US “will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety.”

During a press briefing in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Tehran and its proxies as the true forces destabilizing the region, with several Iran-backed terror groups wreaking havoc in Iraq, Yemen and the Red Sea as a show of support for Hamas’ fight against Israel.

“Iran and its proxies continue to escalate and expand the cycle of violence that we all want to break,” Blinken said of the need for the US and its allies to take out the terror groups.

Although he said the US wants to promote peace and stability in the region, Blinken warned that America would “defend our people, and our assets.”