By Staff, Agencies The leader of the Iraqi Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq resistance group has emphasized the need for a combined diplomatic and military strategy to expel foreign troops from Iraq, asserting that military action is both "obligatory and necessary" to remove American occupation forces. Sheikh Qais al-Khazali declared on Friday that, “If diplomatic efforts alone are pursued for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq, the American forces will not leave Iraqi soil.” He criticized the presence of US troops as illegal and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s constitution, insisting that diplomatic measures alone will not suffice.

He continued, “The military actions of the resistance factions are therefore essential to compel US military forces to depart from Iraq and restore full national sovereignty.” These statements follow Iraq's delay in announcing an end date for the US-led coalition’s mission in the country, attributed to recent regional developments.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry clarified that there are no combat troops from the US in Iraq, only advisors operating under the coalition's framework.

These advisors are under the supervision of the Joint Higher Military Commission, a collaborative body formed by Iraq and the US to oversee the coalition mission.

The ministry also mentioned that an agreement on a withdrawal timeline was close but had been postponed due to “recent events.” Iraqi resistance groups have long called for the end of foreign military presence, citing the US-led invasion of Iraq over a decade ago, which was based on unfounded claims of weapons of mass destruction and a blatant breach of international law.

Currently, there are approximately 2,500 American troops in Iraq and around 900 in Syria, ostensibly to combat the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”].

The US maintains this presence despite the defeat of the Wahhabi terrorist group by Arab forces and their allies in late 2017.9 In 2020, the Iraqi parliament voted to expel foreign forces following a US drone strike that martyred Iran’s top anti-terror commander, General Qassem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units [PMU], near Baghdad International Airport