Resistance Groups to Stand up against Anyone Seeking to Justify US Forces’ Overstay in Iraq: Official

Mahmoud al-Rubaie told the Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency that weapons at the hands of Iraqi resistance fighters are the main guarantor and executive assurance for the implementation of the Iraqi nation’s demand and the parliamentary bill on withdrawal of foreign troops.

“All military forces affiliated with American occupiers must, therefore, leave Iraq,” he said.

“Any individual or faction that seeks to justify the continued presence of foreign forces will face an armed struggle staged by resistance combatants. The national Iraqi will and resistance groups will eventually drive foreign troops out of Iraq,” Rubaie stressed.

Qassim al-Araji, Iraq’s national security adviser, said on Thursday that a final round of technical talks to formally end the US-led combat mission, which was purportedly formed to fight the Daesh terrorist group, had concluded.

“We are officially announcing the end of the coalition forces’ combat mission,” al-Araji wrote on Twitter, adding that the coalition would continue providing assistance, advice and training to Iraqi forces.

Roadside bomb targets US convoy

A roadside bomb attack targeted a convoy carrying logistical equipment belonging for the US military in Iraq’s southern province of al-Qadisiyyah on Sunday.

Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units, said the explosion took place as the vehicles were driving along a highway near the provincial capital city of al-Diwaniyah.

The little-known Qasem al-Jabbarin group later claimed responsibility for the attack.