"The government is committed to accelerating dialogue with the international coalition to withdraw its forces from the country. Our technical teams are negotiating with coalition states," al-Rikabi said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is constantly monitoring the composition of the country’s armed forces in order to prepare for the post-withdrawal period, despite the fact that the personnel does not perform any combat missions on the ground, the adviser added.
On Friday, the Iraqi prime minister confirmed Baghdad’s "steadfast and principled" position that the presence in the country of the coalition that has already fulfilled its mission should be completed. Al-Sudani added that the government will soon determine the start date of the bilateral committee, which will regulate the procedure for the final withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.
On Thursday, the Iraqi armed forces accused the US-led international coalition of a drone strike on the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Baghdad, which killed a Shia militia commander Abu Taqwa and injured six others. Iraq called the deadly attack an "act akin to terrorist activities" and "a dangerous escalation and assault on Iraq." The Pentagon confirmed that US forces conducted a strike in Iraq targeting Abu Taqwa for his alleged role in attacks on US troops in the region.
The Shia armed groups have intensified their attacks on bases of the US-led international coalition in Iraq, as well as US troops in Syria over the past months, as they consider the US complicit in the attacks mounted by Israel on Palestinian civilians. Washington, for its part, believes that the attacks are carried out by pro-Iranian groups.