BAGHDAD: US combat troops will not stay on in Iraq after the fight against Daesh is over, Iraq’s prime minister said Friday — a statement that followed an Associated Press report on talks between Iraq and the US on maintaining American forces in the country.
A US official and an official from the Iraqi government told the AP this week that talks about keeping US troops in Iraq were ongoing.
In his statement, Haider Al-Abadi emphasized that there are no foreign combat troops on Iraqi soil and that any American troops who stay on once Daesh militants are defeated will be advisers working to train Iraq’s security forces to maintain “full readiness” for any “future security challenges.”
While some US forces are carrying out combat operations with Iraqi forces on and beyond front lines in the fight against Daesh, Al-Abadi has maintained that the forces are acting only as advisers, apparently to get around a required parliamentary approval for their presence.
Any forces who remained would continue to be designated as advisers for the same reason, the Iraqi government official had told the AP.
Currently, the Pentagon has close to 7,000 US troops in Iraq, many not publicly acknowledged because they are on temporary duty or under specific personnel rules. At the height of the surge of US forces in 2007, there were about 170,000 American troops in the country. The numbers were wound down eventually to 40,000, before the complete withdrawal in 2011.
Meanwhile, Iraqi forces pushed further into Mosul from the north on the second day of a new push to speed up the nearly seven-month attempt to dislodge Daesh, commanders said Friday.
Daesh tried to block the troops’ northerly advance into their de facto Iraqi capital with suicide car bombs and sniper fire, Brig. Gen. Walid Khalifa, deputy commander of the 9th brigade, told Reuters in Hulayla, west of Musherfa.
His troops had killed about 30 militants and destroyed five car bombs before they could be used against them, he said.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for the joint operations command, told Reuters the militants “didn’t have time to make barriers, the advance since yesterday has been good.”
An army statement said the Second Musherfa district as well as the Church and Mikhail’s Monastery area had been retaken.
The US-backed Iraqi forces’ new foothold aims to open escape routes for the hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped behind Daesh lines and, in turn, help troops’ progress.
Rasool said Iraqi forces rescued 1,000 families on Thursday.
Footage taken by a drone operated by the Iraqi 9th Armored Division over the northwestern suburb of Musherfa and seen by Reuters, showed the militants had scant defenses there, unlike in other parts of Mosul where streets are blocked by anti-tank barriers and vehicles.
No US combat troops to stay in Iraq after anti-Daesh fight: PM
No US combat troops to stay in Iraq after anti-Daesh fight: PM
Gulf leaders arrive in Kuwait for 45th GCC Summit
- Summit aims to underscore the importance of collective action among nations in the region
RIYADH: Gulf leaders have started arriving in Kuwait ahead of the 45th GCC summit, which aims to underscore the importance of collective action among nations in the region.
GCC Secretary General Jassem Al-Budaiwi, said the summit was yet another milestone in the chain of accomplishments for attaining the aspired pan-GCC merger, in a statement published by Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA.
It is rather a platform for the leaders to coordinate their visions and stands toward regional and international issues, said Al-Budaiwi, revealing that leaders would look into strategic files designed to strengthen regional security and stability, in addition to backing up sustainable economic development in the six countries, members of the bloc.
Among those who have arrived in Kuwait, which hosts the event, are Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Qatar’s Ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Bahraini Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, UAE Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Oman’s Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers Sayyed Fahad bin Mahmoud Al-Said.
Iraq MPs to debate revised bill after outcry over underage marriage
- Proposed amendments would let people choose between religious or state regulations for family matters
- A revised version of the bill sets the minimum age at 15 with court approval and retains ‘current conditions’
The proposed amendments would let people choose between religious or state regulations for family matters, such as marriage, inheritance, divorce and child custody.
Critics fear the move could erode protections for Muslim women by lowering the legal age for marriage – currently set at 18, or 15 with the consent of legal guardians and a judge – and pave the way for the adoption of Islamic jurisprudence that could allow marriages as young as nine years old.
A revised version of the bill sets the minimum age at 15 with court approval and retains “current conditions,” according to MP Raed Al-Maliki, who backs the new proposals.
Couples could opt for Shiite Muslim or Sunni Muslim rules under the amendment.
If passed, clerics and lawyers would have four months to establish community-specific regulations. Parliament would then vote again to finalize the changes.
The draft law has already undergone two readings, with votes previously delayed.
An earlier version faced backlash from feminists and civil society groups.
In October, Amnesty International warned the amendments could legalize unregistered marriages – often used to bypass child marriage bans – and strip protections for divorced women.
The London-based rights group also voiced concerns that the amendments would strip women and girls of protections regarding divorce and inheritance.
Sunday’s parliament session will also include a vote on a general amnesty law.
Excluded from amnesty are convictions for terrorism and crimes like rape, incest, human trafficking and kidnapping.
The amnesty, covering 2016-2024, could apply to drug users but not traffickers, according to Maliki.
Cases based on evidence from “secret informants” may qualify for retrial.
The previous 2016 amnesty reportedly covered 150,000 people.
UNRWA chief says pausing aid delivery through key Gaza-Israel crossing
- Delivery through Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing has been paused due to unsafe route and looting by armed gangs inside Gaza
The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees is pausing the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of security concerns, its chief said Sunday.
“We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom... The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months. On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs. Yesterday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.
Turkish-backed Syrian militants blocked Kurdish plan, Turkish security sources say
- Militants blocked an attempt by Kurdish groups to establish a corridor connecting Tel Rifaat to northeastern Syria
ANKARA: Turkiye-backed Syrian militants who are fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad have blocked an attempt by Kurdish groups to establish a corridor connecting Tel Rifaat to northeastern Syria, Turkish security sources said on Sunday.
Turkiye refers to this group of rebels as Syrian National Army.
The sources said that Kurdish groups, including the PKK and YPG, had sought to take advantage of Syrian government forces withdrawing from parts of the country under the control of Assad’s forces.
The corridor would have linked the Kurdish-held northeastern regions to Tel Rifaat, a strategic area northwest of Aleppo.
Iran says to ‘firmly support’ Damascus after militant attacks
- Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi will leave Tehran for Damascus on Sunday
Tehran: Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Sunday he will leave Tehran for Damascus to deliver a message of support for Syria’s government and armed forces, state media said, after a lighting advance by rebels.
Tehran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad during the civil war that broke out in 2011. Iran maintains it does not have combat troops in Syria, only officers who provide military advice and training.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, of Lebanon, has for years fought on the side of the Syrian government.
“I am going to Damascus to convey the message of the Islamic Republic to the Syrian government,” Araghchi said, emphasising Tehran will “firmly support the Syrian government and army,” the IRNA state news agency reported.
Islamist-led rebels on Saturday seized Aleppo’s airport and dozens of nearby towns after overrunning most of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a war monitor said.
Syria’s army confirmed that the rebels had entered “large parts” of the city of around two million people and said “dozens of men from our armed forces were killed.”
Araghchi again called the surprise rebel offensive a plot by the United States and Israel.
“The Syrian army will once again win over these terrorist groups as in the past,” the foreign minister added.
An Iranian news agency reported earlier that a general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in Syria on Thursday during the fighting.
On Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry said its consulate in Aleppo had come under attack, but staff members were safe.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Araghchi who will visit Ankara for consultations with Turkish officials after his stop in Damascus.
Since 2020, the rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region has been subject to a Turkish- and Russian-brokered truce that had largely been holding despite repeated violations.
But the insurgents’ launch on Wednesday of a surprise offensive against the city of Aleppo shattered the truce, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Syrian government had regained control of a large part of the country in 2015 with the support of its Russian and Iranian allies, and in 2016 the entire city of Aleppo.
