News / Iraq

Iraq denies report it has restarted joint military operations with US

Thursday, 16 January 2020 7:09 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 16 January 2020 7:26 PM ]

In this file photo taken on December 29, 2014, US soldiers walk around at the Taji base complex which hosts Iraqi and US troops and is located 30 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad. (Photo by AFP)

The Iraqi government has denied claims that the country’s military is resuming joint operations with the US-led coalition after Washington’s assassination of top Iranian and Iraqi commanders.

"The joint operations have not resumed and we have not given our authorization," Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, said on Thursday.

He added that the coalition did not have a permission from Baghdad to carry out any joint missions.

The remarks came after the New York Times, citing two American military officials, reported Thursday that the US had resumed the operations.

Khalaf said the Iraqi government had ordered the coalition to halt its joint operations following the US assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

Last month, another US airstrike killed 25 members of PMU in the Arab country's west.

On January 3, a US drone strike outside Baghdad airport killed General Soleimani and al-Muhandis.

Who was General Qassem Soleimani?

Major General Qassem Soleimani played a major role in defending Iran and assisting regional countries against terrorism.

Washington began the pause on January 5, two days after the strike, but furious Iraqi lawmakers voted to expel more than 5,000 US troops based in their country.