(Washington) US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani said Monday they will continue working to remove the US-led anti-jihadist coalition in the country.
Their meeting at the White House took place in a context of growing tensions in the Middle East after Iran, a neighbor and close to the Iraqi regime, launched this weekend an unprecedented air attack against Israel, a major ally of the UNITED STATES.
Joe Biden and Mohamed Chia al-Soudani discussed the “natural evolution” of the coalition “in light of the significant progress that has been made in ten years” against the jihadists, they said in a joint statement.
However, they stressed the need to examine many points such as the persistent threat from the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, support for the fragile Iraqi government and the strengthening of security forces there.
“Both leaders affirmed that they would examine these factors to determine when and how the international coalition mission in Iraq would end,” they said.
The objective of the discussions is to reach a bilateral agreement which would make it possible to maintain certain American troops in Iraq.
Around 2,500 American soldiers are deployed in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of this coalition.
Baghdad resumed talks with Washington on the future of the coalition in February. The process was almost immediately suspended when on January 28 a drone attack killed three American soldiers in the middle of the Jordanian desert, on the Syrian border.
Because Mohamed Chia al-Soudani’s visit to Washington, the first since he took office in 2022, comes amid tensions in the Middle East with the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas since October 7, which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe. in the Gaza Strip.
US forces based near the northern Iraqi city of Erbil participated in Israel’s air defense against the Iranian attack, using a Patriot missile battery to shoot down a ballistic missile .
Tehran says it acted in response to the deadly strike blamed on Israel which targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1er april.
Joe Biden said Monday that he did not want a regional conflagration while the Iraqi Prime Minister called on all parties to exercise restraint.
After mid-October, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, pro-Iran armed groups carried out dozens of attacks against American troops in Iraq and Syria. In retaliation, Washington carried out several strikes against these factions.
Working towards de-escalation, Baghdad and Washington launched talks at the end of January to discuss the future of the anti-jihadist coalition created in 2014 to fight IS.
reference: www.lapresse.ca