Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani says he supports an indefinite presence of US troops in the country to combat ISIS, putting him at odds with his supporters and Iranian-backed officials.
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sudani said US and NATO troop contingents were needed to train and help Iraqi units counter ISIS, but were mostly hors de combat.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and the German Chancellor (not pictured) give a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin on January 13, 2023.
(TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“Inside Iraq we don’t need combat forces,” Sudani said. “If there is a threat to Iraq, it is the penetration of [ISIS] cells through Syria”.
The US military and its partner forces in Iraq and Syria continued their fight to demote ISIS in 2022, executing hundreds of operations that killed or captured more than 1,000 ISIS fighters. ‘
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US forces and partners conducted 313 total operations against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2022, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said, including 108 in Syria and 191 in Iraq. . The operations resulted in the arrest of 374 ISIS fighters in total, 215 in Syria and 159 in Iraq. A total of at least 686 fighters were also killed in 2022, 466 in Syria and at least 159 in Syria.
There are currently about 2,000 US troops in Iraq and another multinational training force under NATO command. Around 900 US soldiers are stationed in Syria.
Sudani told The Journal that he wants Iraq to have relations with the United States comparable to those enjoyed by Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf oil and gas producers.
“We strive for that,” he said. “I don’t see this as an impossible issue, that Iraq has a good relationship with Iran and the United States”
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Sudani said he plans to send a high-level delegation to Washington for talks with US officials sometime next month. Aides said they hoped the move would pave the way for a future meeting with President Biden.
Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report.
