Iraqi militias to Washington: Get your troops out of Iraq
Leader of the Special Groups in Iraq, Ahl al-Haq, Qais al-Khazali called for the departure of the US forces from the Iraqi territory after battling ISIS.
This came as a response to the statement of the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson on Sunday, and his call for the departure of Iranian militias from Iraq, along with a the clear response issued by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi regarding his meeting with Tillerson.
Al-Khazali said via his Twitter account: "To the US Secretary of State, your military forces must prepare now to get out of our homeland Iraq immediately and without delay once the ISIS elimination excuse is over."
The leader of the popular mobilization unit, Hadi al-Amiri, also expressed dissatisfaction with the statements of the US Secretary of State: "He is unwelcomed in Baghdad," he said, urging Tillerson to apologize for his remarks to the militias, which he described as irresponsible.
On Sunday, Tillerson said it was time for the Iranian-backed factions to return to their "homes" as well as their Iranian advisers, who helped Iraq defeat ISIS.
In a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in Riyadh, Tillerson added, foreign fighters in Iraq should return to their homes and allow the Iraqi people to regain control.
Tillerson arrived in Baghdad on Monday for an unplanned visit, during which he met with Abadi.
In May, al- Khazali praised the Iranian-backed Ahl al-Haq militias, and said in a video widely circulated that these militias would form what he called the "Shiite dawn" and not the Shiite crescent.
Al-Khazali stated that in the future "the combat milita will have been completed" referring to the presence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Iran, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Popular Mobilization Crowd in Iraq.
Source: Al Arabiya