Iraqi Parliament Urges Swift Withdrawal of Foreign Troops From Country After US Strikes

BAGHDAD (Sputnik) - On Saturday night, the US said it had hit over 85 targets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its affiliated forces in Iraq and Syria in response to the recent attack on a US military base in Jordan.
Sputnik
The Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee on Saturday called on the Iraqi government to quickly sign an agreement on the withdrawal of the international coalition troops from the country following the new US strikes against Iraq.

"The Committee calls on the Iraqi government to assume its responsibility to protect fighters of the People's Militia Forces, one of the formations of the Iraqi armed forces, by submitting a formal complaint to the UN Security Council and accelerating the process of reaching an agreement on the withdrawal of US and international coalition troops from Iraq. Their presence in Iraq is destabilizing the situation," the committee said in a statement seen by Sputnik.

Such attacks violate Iraq's sovereignty and weaken security cooperation between Iraq and the United States, the statement read.
US General Says No Changes in Posture in Middle East Amid Escalating Tensions
The Iraqi government responded to the US strikes by saying that they constitute "open aggression," and that Washington's statements about the United States allegedly coordinating the strikes with Iraq were false.
On Friday, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said that the US had warned the Iraqi authorities of then-upcoming strikes on facilities in Iraq.
"The United States falsified facts by claiming that there had been prior coordination of this aggression. Such statements are false, they are aimed at misleading international public opinion," Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in a statement.
Al-Awadi also condemned the US actions as "open aggression," adding that the presence of the international coalition forces in Iraq "has become a threat to the security and stability of the country."