Iraq has condemned air strikes ordered by President Joe Biden against suspected Iran-backed militias along the country’s border with Syria, emphasizing that discussions were underway with the United States and had advanced to facilitate the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.
In a statement sent to Newsweek, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s office said Monday that Baghdad’s National Security Council held an emergency meeting in the wake of Sunday’s U.S. targeting of Iraq and Syrian territories on the basis of claims that armed groups backed by Iran used the sites to launch drone attacks against U.S. forces.
“The Ministerial Council for National Security expressed its strong condemnation and censure of the American bombing that targeted a site on our border with Syria,” the statement said, “stressing that this attack represents a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty, which is rejected by all international laws and covenants.”