Iraqi organizations calling themselves the "Coordinating Committee of the Iraqi Resistance Factions" said that they would not allow the presence of any US soldier in Iraq under any pretext.

These organizations added, in a statement, that the withdrawal of what they called the "occupying forces" to be real "must be comprehensive from all of Iraq, specifically from the Ain Al-Assad and Al-Harir air bases."

The coordinating body includes armed Shiite factions supported by Iran, including the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada' and Harakat al-Nujaba, which have previously claimed attacks on US military targets in Iraq.

The statement also indicated that the presence of foreign forces includes the international coalition forces against ISIS and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The statement stressed that if the United States does not commit to withdrawing its forces, these organizations will treat any foreign military presence in Iraq as an occupation, and will continue to fight it with all its might.

The statement considered that "the American trainers, along with the international coalition forces, have proven a catastrophic failure in Iraq by experience for 10 years, the result of which was the collapse of all security and military institutions."

Washington has been leading an international coalition since 2014 to combat the "Islamic State" organization, which seized a third of the area of ​​Iraq at the time, where about 3,000 coalition soldiers are deployed, including 2,500 Americans.


Training and armament programs

The statement was issued hours after a speech by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein, during the launch of the fourth round of the US-Iraq strategic dialogue in Washington, in which he stressed the need for his country's forces for US training, arming and equipping programs.

Fouad Hussein said that ISIS still poses a threat to the Iraqi, regional and international community, and stressed the need for action and the continuation of information exchange between the international coalition led by the United States and the Iraqi government to confront the organization.

In the same context, the Secretary-General of the "Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq" movement, Qais Khazali, described the Iraqi Foreign Minister's statement as "marketing for the US administration's justifications for the continued presence of its forces in Iraq."

Khazali said, in a tweet on Twitter, that the foreign minister's statement is unfortunate and rejected by every Iraqi who is proud of his military and security institutions," as he put it.

He added that the minister's speech "does not reflect the reality of the capabilities reached by the army and federal police forces, the Popular Mobilization Forces and the counter-terrorism agency."


Awaiting statement

And yesterday, Friday, before the launch of the fourth round of the US-Iraq strategic dialogue, The Wall Street Journal quoted prominent US and Iraqi officials as saying that they intend to issue a statement on the withdrawal of US combat forces from Iraq by the end of this year.

The newspaper added that the statement will confirm that the US military presence will remain necessary after the withdrawal, to assist the Iraqi forces in their battle against ISIS.

In turn, Politico newspaper quoted a US official and informed sources as saying that US and Iraqi officials will announce the transformation of the US forces' mission in Iraq into a consultancy by the end of the year.

The newspaper, quoting these sources, said that the plan will include the survival of a certain number of US forces indefinitely to provide logistical and advisory support, as well as air and intelligence power in the fight against ISIS.

An informed source was quoted as saying that Washington and Baghdad intend to announce the plan on Monday, coinciding with the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to Washington.

For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during his meeting with his Iraqi counterpart at the State Department that the partnership between Washington and Baghdad is much broader and deeper than just their joint war against ISIS.

"We are very proud of the work that we have done together to defeat ISIS, and to make sure that its defeat continues, but I believe that what is happening today confirms that the partnership between the United States and Iraq is much broader and deeper than the joint fight against ISIS," he said.