U.S. assassination entails withdrawal of foreign force: Iraqi militia leader - China.org.cn

The U.S. airstrike that assassinated the Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis entails the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, Falih al-Fayadh, head of Iraqi Hashd Shaabi forces, said on Sunday.

In a protest rally of Hashd Shaabi supporters at Baghdad airport, where the U.S. airstrike took place, al-Fayadh stressed that the assassination "imposed a new reality that the demand for the withdrawal of foreign forces cannot be delayed."

The protest came two years after a deadly attack by a U.S. drone on a convoy near Baghdad International Airport that killed Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The airstrike sparked tension and reprisal attacks between Iran and the United States on Iraqi soil.

Two days after the airstrike, the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country.

On Dec. 29, 2021, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed the end of the U.S.-led coalition forces' combat mission in Iraq after the withdrawal of the forces from the country.

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