America deploys 2,500 soldiers in Iraq as part of the international coalition mission (Reuters)

The Iraqi army announced that Baghdad and Washington held new talks on Sunday to formulate a timetable for a "studied and gradual reduction, leading to the end of the mission of the international coalition forces" in Iraq.

Iraqi army spokesman Major General Yahya Rasoul said that the meetings will occur periodically to complete the committee's work as quickly as possible, "as long as nothing disturbs the peace of the talks."

The talks began last January, but less than 24 hours later, 3 American soldiers were killed in an attack in Jordan that the United States said was carried out by groups allied with Iran in Syria and Iraq.

It is noteworthy that the international military coalition led by the United States was formed in 2014 with the aim of fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The United States deploys about 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of this coalition.

Estimating the military situation

A statement issued by the armed forces in Iraq said that the Iraqi Supreme Military Committee resumed “its meetings with the international coalition forces in Baghdad on Sunday,” with the aim of “assessing the military situation, the level of danger, the operational environment, and the capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces.”

The Iraqi authorities say that they want to work on bilateral military cooperation with each of the coalition countries, as an alternative.

On the other hand, the coalition and the United States appear more cautious in indirectly indicating that these talks may require time.

In announcing the resumption of the talks earlier, the coalition said that their aim was “to evaluate progress in our joint mission to defeat ISIS, and to discuss the future transformation of our mission.”

Since mid-October, American forces and the international coalition in Iraq and Syria have been subjected to more than 165 attacks.

Most of these attacks were claimed by the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq", which includes fighters in factions described as close to Iran.

The factions say that their attacks come in solidarity with Gaza and against American support for Israel in its aggression against the Strip.

Source: Agencies