Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency
The Iraqi Parliament voted Sunday to expel US troops from the country, in the wake of the targeted killing of Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, and the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandi, a Shiite militia backed by Iran.
American forces are in Iraq under legal contract signed with the Iraqi government.
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The resolution in the parliament passed unanimously 170-0, because nearly all of the country’s Kurdish and Sunni lawmakers did not show up for the session and did not vote.
Parliament Speaker Mohammed Halbusi announced following the vote, “The parliament has voted to commit the Iraqi government to cancel its request to the international coalition for help to fight IS.”
The resolution, which is non-binding, was phrased as a request to the government to end the 2014 agreement with Washington to host US forces in Iraq – and with other nations as well — to help fight the Islamic State terrorist organization.
“The government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international coalition fighting Islamic State due to the end of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory,” the resolution read, according to Reuters.
“The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason.”
Iraqi Parliament resolutions, unlike laws, are non-binding to the government. However, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had earlier called on parliament to end foreign troop presence, Tasnim News Agency reported.
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