24-04-2024 06:42 PM Jerusalem Timing

Iraqi Lawmakers Reject US Ground Presence

Iraqi Lawmakers Reject US Ground Presence

The Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee rejected in a statement late Wednesday sending US ground forces to Iraq.

Iraqi ParliamentThe Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee rejected in a statement late Wednesday sending US ground forces to Iraq.

“It is necessary to prevent any US ground forces from being in Iraq as their presence creates a lot of problems,” Qasem al-Araji, a member of the committee said.

“We strongly believe that the US does not target the ISIL organization effectively,” he added, in reference to the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' takfiri group.

The committee also indicated that 200 US soldiers have arrived at Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar province.

In a press conference held earlier on Wednesday in the US Embassy in Baghdad, Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, said the international coalition is considering sending American ground forces to support Iraqi security forces.

The US withdrew from Iraq in 2001 following severe blows by the Iraqi Resistance, and after it lost dozens of soldiers in the Iraqi military operations.