Addressing a meeting with Iraqi university students and media activists in
Baghdad on Friday, Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi said the Islamic
Republic withdrew all its military advisors from Iraq immediately after the
defeat of Daesh terrorists in the country, ISNA reported.
In December 2017, former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end
of military operations against the Daesh terrorist group in the Arab country.
"Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore
announce the end of the war against Daesh,” Abadi told a conference in Baghdad.
The Iraqi armed forces later said in a statement that the country has been
"totally liberated” from Daesh.
Masjedi went on to say, "Contrary to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the US has
still kept its forces in the region despite the elimination of Daesh and instead
of announcing the end of its military forces' mission, it is strengthening its
bases and military barracks in some regions and establishing new positions."
On Tuesday, Turkey's official Anadolu news agency quoted Farhan al-Duleimi, a
member of Anbar’s provisional council, as saying that the US Army has set up two
new military bases in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, days after Washington
announced the pullout of American forces from Syria.
According to al-Duleimi, the first base had been established in the northern
Rumana sub-district in al-Qaim district, in the vicinity of the Syrian border,
some 360 kilometers west of the provincial capital Ramadi.
The second base, he added, had been set up east of the city of al-Rutbah, about
310 kilometers west of Ramadi and less than 100 kilometers from the Syrian
border.
The move comes less than a week after US President Donald Trump announced his
unexpected decision to pull all the 2,000 American ground troops out of the
war-ravaged Syria. He has said that the withdrawal would be slow and gradual,
without providing a timetable.
In response to a question about the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, the
Iranian diplomat said, "The strategic policy of the US is [based on] the
establishment of instability and crisis in the region and this is the reason
that it creates obstacles in the way of any effort which will lead to [boosting]
peace and calm in the region."
He emphasized that there is no justification for the presence of US military
forces in the region because regional countries have the capacity to protect
themselves without foreign troops.
Masjedi called on media outlets to constantly criticize the US policy of
bullying and interference in the affairs of regional countries as well as
exerting pressure on some states to downgrade their relations with the Islamic
Republic.
"The way to overcome problems and counter ill-wishers' plots is to preserve
national unity in Iraq, properly recognize friends from foes, stand up to the
brazen enemy, rely on youths and maintain and strengthen links with the
[clerical] sources [of emulation]," the Leader said in a meeting with Iraqi
President Barham Salih and his accompanying delegation in Tehran.
Source:PressTV