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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq has warned the United Nations Security Council that the recent attacks by US troops inside the country are a “hostile act” aiming to turn the country into a battlefield for regional conflicts.
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent two letters of complaint to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Security Council on Monday regarding the recent missile attacks by US warplanes on Iraqi forces.
The content of the letter was published by state-owned newspaper al-Sabaah on Tuesday.
“US attacks are a hostile act by US troops against Iraq’s state, government and people,” the letter read. “Such an act by US is only aiming to turn Iraq into a battlefield for regional conflict,”
It added military operations inside Iraq without coordinating with Baghdad is a “provocative action”.
US warplanes launched retaliatory strikes against weapon stores belonging to the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in the early hours of Friday, in response to last Wednesday’s rocket attack on Iraq’s Taji military base, which killed two Americans and one Briton.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi on Monday regarding last week’s attacks.
“America will not tolerate attacks and threats to American lives and will take additional action as necessary in self-defense,” Pompeo told the Iraqi leader.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said the airstrikes “violated the principle of partnership and alliance between Iraqi security forces and the parties that planned and carried out this treacherous attack.”
Three Iraqi soldiers and two police officers were killed and several more injured in Babil, it said. Five members of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) 46th Brigade were also injured.
Meanwhile in Karbala, the Joint Operations Command said a civilian worker was killed and another injured in an US airstrike on the local airport.
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ahmed al-Sahaf confirmed the letter in a thread of tweets on Tuesday and announced that US attacks inside Iraq are a hostile act which violate the conditions of the presence of US troops inside Iraq.
“The Foreign Ministry describes the US airstrikes in this complaint as a hostile act, and a clear violation of the conditions for the presence of US troops in Iraq.” al-Sahaf tweeted.
There are roughly 5,000 US troops stationed in Iraq advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the fight against remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS). The US leads the International Coalition to defeat ISIS.
US troops were invited back to the country in 2014 to assist with the fight against the terror group.
The presence of US troops in Iraq has always been contentious for Shiite political parties and Iran-backed Shiite paramilitias.
Following the US assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3, Shiite blocs in the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution demanding the expulsion of US forces from Iraq.
Iran responded to the assassination by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US forces on January 8. No Americans were killed in the retaliatory strikes, but more than a hundred US personnel reportedly suffered traumatic brain injury.
At the time, the US and Iran appeared to be on the brink of war.
The US military is now moving air and missile defense systems into Iraq following negotiations with Baghdad, Marine Corps General and head of the US Central Command Kenneth McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee last week.
“Since May 2019, Iranian proxies and Shiite militia groups in Iraq have increased attacks on US interests and conducted scores of unmanned aerial system reconnaissance flights near US and Iraqi security force bases,” said Gen. McKenzie in his opening statement to the committee.
“We are in the process of bringing air defense systems, ballistic missile defense systems into Iraq – particularly to protect ourselves against another potential Iranian attack,” he added.
The US military is also considering relocating and reshuffling its troops within Iraq.
In early March, coalition spokesperson Colonel Myles B. Caggins III told Rudaw English that the US and the coalition are looking to reposition their troops inside Iraq, due to threats posed by Iranian-backed groups and ISIS remnants.
“The coalition will look at where to position its advisors from now on as things have been changed, and it is likely that our operation will adjust based on the threats,” he said.
The coalition released a statement on Tuesday confirming their troops conducted a “base transfer ceremony” on Tuesday and officially announced that they will relocate from al-Qaim base on the Iraqi-Syrian border in northwest Iraq.
“Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve conducted a base transfer ceremony with the Iraqi Security Forces, March 17, 2020 at Al Qaim, Iraq,”the statement read.
The US-led coalition announced that they will remain in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government but they will “operate from fewer locations”.
“The Coalition troops will depart Al Qaim base after the completion of equipment transfers to Iraqi Security Forces, in the coming days,” the statement added.
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