US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on 23 August claimed that large-scale US troop movements inside the country are “part of the exchange of existing forces” and insisted that their presence is not linked to Iraq’s internal affairs.
Romanowski made the remarks following a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Her comments followed an official denial of US troops buildup inside Iraq by Khalid Al-Yaqobi, the security affairs advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
“There is no mobilization of US forces, but rather a replacement for US units present in Syria,” Yaqobi told Al-Iraqiya News during a televised interview on Sunday.
For the past two weeks, Iraq has witnessed nearly daily reports, images, and videos showing significant US military activity in the country.
Arabic media reports claimed there are plans to “cut off” the Iraq-Syria border to allegedly block the crossing of Iranian military equipment headed for Iraqi and Syrian resistance factions. The Pentagon denied this.
US and allied proxy forces occupy all border crossings between Syria and Iraq except at Al-Bukamal.
Over the past few months, Washington has discreetly dispatched over 6,000 troops to West Asia, including a contingent of 3,000 soldiers to the Persian Gulf to confront the Iranian navy.
The US military readied some 2,500 light-infantry troops for deployment to Iraq and Syria in mid-July. According to a report from a local New York media outlet, their mission, spanning nine months, is to actively engage in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the alleged “anti-ISIS” operation in Iraq and Syria.
Officially, the stated number of US service members currently operating in Iraq is 2,500, with an unknown number of mercenaries who work for private military contractors. In Syria, the US claims to have only 900 troops illegally occupying the country’s oil fields and a massive military base in the south.
Iraqi Shia militia Kataeb Hezbollah, a faction within the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), on Thursday, issued a statement calling US convoys in Iraq “evidence of the enemy’s intransigence to keep its forces in the country,” adding that the resistance “would smack their malicious plots for the region” if they decided to fight.
In June, the umbrella Resistance Coordination Committee issued an “ultimatum” to Iraqi leaders, demanding immediate action against “US violations” in the country and calling a temporary halt on military operations against the US occupation army “should not be misconstrued as acceptance of the ongoing presence of US forces, which we consider illegal and unconstitutional.”
US troops remain in Iraq despite a 2020 Iraqi Parliament vote ordering their eviction from the country after the murder of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and PMU deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Last week, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, made an unannounced trip to Iraq where he reportedly advised resistance leaders against launching attacks on US bases “at this time.”
His visit happened as Washington and Tehran have successfully moved forward with deals to release US prisoners held in the Islamic Republic and to unfreeze billions of funds that belong to Iran.
Source : The Cradle
