Drone Strike Pushes Iraq to End US-Led Coalition Mission

February 8, 2024 Hour: 9:53 am

The U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Wednesday evening pushed the Iraqi government more than ever to end the mission of the U.S.-led coalition forces.

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The drone bombarded a sport utility vehicle of paramilitary Hashd Shaabi Forces in the al-Mashtal neighborhood, killing three people, including Abu Baqir al-Saadi, a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that has links to Hashd Shaabi Forces.

Yahya Rasoul, the military spokesman of the Iraqi prime minister, said that the U.S. forces committed a reckless assassination in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

“This path pushes the Iraqi government, more than ever before, to end the mission of the international coalition, which has become a factor of instability for Iraq,” Rasoul said.

Le commandant des brigades du Hezbollah irakien Baqer al-Saadi a été tué lors d’une frappe de drone à Bagdad. Chef du système aérien des Brigades du Hezbollah pic.twitter.com/Yc4BEsfhEp

— Ribere Fabrice (@RibereF)
February 8, 2024

The text reads, “Baqer al-Saadi, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigade Commander, was killed by a drone strike in Baghdad. Head of Hezbollah Brigade Air System.”

On Thursday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the killed commander is “responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces.”

Meanwhile, Spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command Tahsin al-Khafaji said that the U.S. drone attack “undermines all agreements between Iraq and the United States.”

“We hold the U.S. and the coalition forces responsible for the repercussions of these dangerous actions that threaten the security and safety of the country and clearly undermine all ongoing talks that take place between Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition,” al-Khafaji said.

Iraq and the United States began the first round of dialogue on Jan. 27 to discuss ending the U.S.-led coalition’s mission in Iraq. However, later in the day, three U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack on a U.S. base near Jordan’s border with Syria, which the United States said was carried out by an Iranian-backed armed group named Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

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