BEIRUT: The United States and Iraq held a first session of formal talks Saturday in Baghdad aimed at winding down the mission of a US-led military coalition formed to fight Daesh group in Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said in a statement that he had sponsored “the commencement of the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq and the United States of America to end the mission of the Coalition in Iraq.”
The beginning of talks, announced by both countries on Thursday, comes as US forces in Iraq and Syria have been regularly targeted by drone attacks launched by Iran-backed militias against the backdrop of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The US says plans to set up a committee to negotiate the terms of the mission’s end were first discussed last year, and the timing isn’t related to the attacks.
Washington has had a continuous presence in Iraq since its 2003 invasion. Although all US combat forces left in 2011, thousands of troops returned in 2014 to help the government of Iraq defeat Daesh.
Since the extremist group lost its hold on the territory it once seized, Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of coalition forces, particularly in the wake of a US airstrike in January 2020 that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis outside the Baghdad airport.
The issue has surfaced again since Israel launched its major counteroffensive in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in southern Israel.
Since mid-October, a group of Iran-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have launched regular attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, which the group said are in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza.
Those estimated 2,500 US troops and the bases they serve on have drawn more than 150 missile and drone attacks fired by the militias. Scores of US personnel have been wounded, including some with traumatic brain injuries, during the attacks.
The US has struck militia targets in return, including some linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-backed paramilitary groups that is officially under the control of the Iraqi military. But it largely operates on its own in practice. Iraqi officials have complained that the US strikes are a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
US officials have said that talks about setting up a committee to decide on the framework for ending the coalition’s mission were already underway before Oct. 7 and the decision is unrelated to the attacks.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq nevertheless took credit for the decision in a statement, saying that it “proves that the Americans only understand the language of force.” It vowed to continue its attacks.
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Iraq and US begin formal talks to end coalition mission formed to fight Daesh
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Iraq and US begin formal talks to end coalition mission formed to fight Daesh
- The beginning of talks comes as US forces in Iraq and Syria have been regularly targeted by drone attacks
- Washington has had a continuous presence in Iraq since its 2003 invasion
Israeli president says ‘we will overcome evil’ at Bondi Beach
SYDNEY: People of all faiths will overcome “evil” together, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on Monday as he laid a wreath at Sydney’s Bondi Beach to commemorate victims of a shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival.
The Israeli head of state paid homage under rain and grey skies to those killed in the December 14 attack as he embarked on a tightly secured, four-day visit aimed at consoling Australia’s Jewish community.
“The bonds between good people of all faiths and all nations will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence and hatred,” he said in a ceremony outside the beachside Bondi Pavilion.
“We shall overcome this evil together.”
Herzog said he laid two stones from Jerusalem at Bondi Beach “in sacred memory of the victims.”
He welcomed “positive steps” by the Australian government to fight antisemitism, with the introduction of tougher gun and hate crime laws since the attack — the deadliest against Jews since Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli president also told reporters that he shared people’s frustrations about a rise in antisemitism all over the world.
’A pained community’
Among the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and 10-year-old Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a “ray of sunshine.”
Alleged Bondi Beach gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog’s trip.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community,” said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community’s peak body.
But some in the community disagreed, with the progressive Jewish Council of Australia saying he was not welcome because of his alleged role in the “ongoing destruction of Gaza.”
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians — “an entire nation” — were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel has “categorically” rejected the inquiry’s report, describing it as “distorted and false” and calling for the body’s abolition.
Protests
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged people to be respectful of the reason for Herzog’s visit, saying he would join the president to meet with the families of those killed at Bondi Beach.
The Israeli head of state said he has “come here in good will.”
He accused protesters of seeking to “undermine and delegitimize” Israel’s right to exist.
The New South Wales state government has declared Herzog’s Sydney visit a “major event” — giving police greater powers to control demonstrations.
Nevertheless, pro-Palestinian protesters were out in force in Australia’s two largest cities on Monday evening.
In Sydney, hundreds marched calling for Herzog to be investigated for alleged war crimes and accusing him of inciting “genocide.”
Crowds also gathered in the center of Melbourne demanding an end to Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
The Israeli head of state paid homage under rain and grey skies to those killed in the December 14 attack as he embarked on a tightly secured, four-day visit aimed at consoling Australia’s Jewish community.
“The bonds between good people of all faiths and all nations will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence and hatred,” he said in a ceremony outside the beachside Bondi Pavilion.
“We shall overcome this evil together.”
Herzog said he laid two stones from Jerusalem at Bondi Beach “in sacred memory of the victims.”
He welcomed “positive steps” by the Australian government to fight antisemitism, with the introduction of tougher gun and hate crime laws since the attack — the deadliest against Jews since Hamas’s assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli president also told reporters that he shared people’s frustrations about a rise in antisemitism all over the world.
’A pained community’
Among the victims of the Bondi Beach shooting were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and 10-year-old Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a “ray of sunshine.”
Alleged Bondi Beach gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog’s trip.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community,” said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community’s peak body.
But some in the community disagreed, with the progressive Jewish Council of Australia saying he was not welcome because of his alleged role in the “ongoing destruction of Gaza.”
The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians — “an entire nation” — were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel has “categorically” rejected the inquiry’s report, describing it as “distorted and false” and calling for the body’s abolition.
Protests
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged people to be respectful of the reason for Herzog’s visit, saying he would join the president to meet with the families of those killed at Bondi Beach.
The Israeli head of state said he has “come here in good will.”
He accused protesters of seeking to “undermine and delegitimize” Israel’s right to exist.
The New South Wales state government has declared Herzog’s Sydney visit a “major event” — giving police greater powers to control demonstrations.
Nevertheless, pro-Palestinian protesters were out in force in Australia’s two largest cities on Monday evening.
In Sydney, hundreds marched calling for Herzog to be investigated for alleged war crimes and accusing him of inciting “genocide.”
Crowds also gathered in the center of Melbourne demanding an end to Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
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