Following the airstrikes carried out by the US-led international coalition forces north of Babil Governorate, which resulted in the deaths of several fighters, the Popular Mobilization Authority urged on the Iraqi authorities on Wednesday a “immediate” decision to expel foreign forces from the country.
The authority mentioned in a statement today, “The brutal aggressive operation that took place against our forces in the Popular Mobilization Forces in northern Babil Governorate calls on us to carry out all our national, legal, and legitimate responsibilities in defending the sovereignty and dignity of Iraq, and to unify efforts to take an immediate decision to withdraw foreign forces from our country.”
She also said, “the coincidence of this attack with the criminal operation carried out by the usurping entity to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas, exposes the enemies’ plans to ignite the region and extend the circle of war and aggression.”
Declaring on Wednesday that coalition forces had perpetrated a “heinous crime and blatant attack” north of Babylon, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the military spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, promised to take suitable legal and diplomatic action “to preserve rights.”
Four members of the Popular Mobilization Forces were killed when American officials said on Wednesday that their forces targeted fighters in the Iraqi province of Babil with a defensive air strike who sought to launch drones threatening American forces and the international coalition.
Tuesday’s defensive airstrike by U.S. forces aimed targeted militants in Iraq’s Babil province seeking to launch drones threatening American and coalition forces, a U.S. defense official said.
The US official said that the strike claimed four lives and is the first since February when US forces assassinated a leader supporting Iran.
Referring to the right of self-defense and acting accordingly, he said the Central Command saw the drones as a threat to US forces and the international coalition.
In a statement, the alliance of armed factions inside the government forces—the Popular Mobilization Forces—said the strike aimed two patrols north of Babylon killed four of its soldiers. It clarified that missiles fired by aircraft executed the targeting.
Two bases hosting US-led coalition personnel battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been targets of missile strikes during the past week. Two drones targeted the Ain al-Asad base on July 16, neither causing any damage nor casualties.
A demand made often by the pro-Iran factions, an Iraqi security official said the attack was meant to humiliate the Iraqi government and pressure the international coalition forces opposing the terrorists to quit.
An explosion and fire at the Kalsu facility in Babil claimed one life and injured eight others in April. Three American soldiers in the border region between Iraq, Jordan, and Syria perished in January from a drone attack.
As part of the worldwide coalition to combat the Islamic State, the United States has roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria.
