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International coalition puts operations in Iraq on hold, says Iraqi parliament

TASS, February 10. Forces of the international counterterrorist coalition spearheaded by the United States have ceased its operations in Iraq and are getting ready to evacuate its troops from the country, Al-Arabiya TV reports on Monday, citing the Iraqi parliament’s defense and security committee.

Emerging news suggests, "Coalition forces have stopped their actions preparing to withdraw alliance troops from Iraq." The parliamentary committee also noted that the future Iraqi government "will determine the specific timeline for foreign troops’ pullout from the Iraqi territory."

Al Jazeera says that France, Germany and Australia have already filed their notices of suspension of operational activities and requests to prepare withdrawal of their army units from Iraq with the Iraqi Joint Operations command.

However, spokesperson for the command Tahseen al-Khafaji did not confirm this report. According to his statement quoted by Iraqi Alsumaria TV, the said three states "did not contact the Iraqi army command requesting a schedule for their troops withdrawal from the Iraqi territory."

Deterioration in Middle East

The situation around Iran exacerbated dramatically after the US launched a strike on Baghdad’s airport on January 3 killing General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force. Tehran vowed to respond harshly in response to Washington’s actions. On January 8, Iran retaliated by launching missile strikes on two facilities in Iraq used by US military - Al-Asad Air Base and the airport of Erbil.

The US has been attacking Shiite groups in Iraq since December 29, attracting a wave of criticism from Iraqi authorities and raising questions on whether actions of the coalition led by Washington are legitimate. On January 5, the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution demanding that all foreign troops be withdrawn from the country. Trump refused to do so, threatening Baghdad with "unprecedented sanctions".

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