Faction leaders set a "deadline" for Americans: either withdraw or resume fighting, 26 FEB

 Faction leaders set a "deadline" for Americans: either withdraw or resume fighting

Today, Sunday (February 25, 2024), a number of leaders of armed factions in Iraq set a deadline for the United States to withdraw its forces from Iraq completely, while choosing between withdrawing or resuming attacks against US forces.

The US National Radio Network (NPR) quoted statements from the leaders translated by "Baghdad Today", where the spokesman for the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, Kazem al-Fartousi, said that "the factions will resume attacks against US forces again if they do not withdraw by the next US elections in November next year."

Unlike the battles fought by Iraq against Iran and Kuwait, which were imposed on it by Saddam Hussein's regime, this battle against US forces was chosen by the Iraqi people, not only to remove the forces' occupation, but also in support of the brothers in occupied Palestine," al-Fartousi said.

In turn, Kataib Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Mohi, according to the network, said that "the US administration will pay a heavy price for the assassinations carried out against leaders in the Popular Mobilization Forces during the past month, most notably Baqir al-Saadi," stressing that "Kataib Hezbollah will confront the US forces and expel them not only from Iraq but from the entire region."

The network indicated that "the assassination of Baqir al-Saadi and the air strikes carried out by US forces last month against targets inside Iraq prompted the continuous efforts to remove US forces to escalate," wondering about "the reasons that call for the administration of US President Joe Biden to keep US forces in Iraq despite the lack of need."

The network pointed out in its report and interviews with faction leaders, that "Iraq has witnessed great security stability during the past period, the presence of US forces has become directly threatened by the tension between the factions and those forces," calling for "reconsidering their presence during the coming period to preserve the security gains achieved inside Iraq."