ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The recent agreement between the US and Iraq to withdraw American combat troops is insufficient, the spokesperson of an Iran-backed militia group told Rudaw, promising an “appropriate response” should all US forces not withdraw. “The talks that took place between Baghdad and Washington, and the outcomes they produced, did not achieve the Iraqi ambition, which is the exit of all US forces,” Sheikh Kadhim al-Fartousi, spokesperson for Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, a militia part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) told Rudaw on Sunday. “Changing clothes and appearance is not a withdrawal … the US and foreign forces withdrawal from Iraq has to be in full,” Fartousi said, adding that if that is not achieved there will be an “appropriate response.” US President Joe Biden received Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi late last month, and announced that the US combat mission in Iraq will be over by the end of the year. “The delegations decided, following recent technical talks, that the security relationship will fully transition to a training, advising, assisting, and intelligence-sharing role, and that there will be no U.S. forces with a combat role in Iraq by December 31, 2021,” read a joint statement. There are currently 2,500 US troops in Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region. As the US formally shifts to an advisory role, it is not immediately clear if this will change the number of American soldiers in the country. Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, originally formed in Syria in 2013 fought alongside the Syrian government. With the arrival of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in 2014, they extended their scope to Iraq and soon became part of the PMF. Attacks on Iraqi bases, especially those hosting US troops, have increased since the US assassinated top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad in January 2020. There have been around 30 attacks on or near bases in Iraq and Syria since the beginning of 2021, according to data collected by Rudaw English. However according to the spokesperson there has recently been a calm in attacks on US bases. “This calm comes as part of the factions’ regards to the circumstances in Iraq and the government, along with the general atmosphere of the country due to the coronavirus,” Fartousi said. The US has previously attacked Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada in May on the Iraq-Syria border, killing four fighters of the group. Kadhimi is under pressure at home to secure a US withdrawal. Several Iraqi and Kurdish officials, however, have said Iraq still needs the assistance of the US-led coalition against ISIS. On Sunday, a Peshmerga official confirmed that no US forces have been withdrawn from Erbil. “According to the Iraq-US agreement, US combat troops are set to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year, however we have not heard of any forces withdrawing from Kurdistan Region as there were no US combat troops stationed in the region in the first place, and what is here is advisory troops,” Jabar Yawar, secretary-general of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, told Rudaw on Sunday.
