Group Vows to Stop U.S. Violation of Iraqi Airspace
BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- A senior member of an anti-terror resistance group, part of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi, says his fellow fighters would not allow the United States to continue violating the Iraqi airspace.
"The Americans are unofficially operating in the airspace over Iraq, and violating the country’s aerial sovereignty,” Mahmoud al-Rubaie, spokesman for the political bureau of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group, said Friday.
"The flagrant and repeated violations of the Iraqi airspace by Americans are closely related to the strange position of the Iraqi government, and its inaction.”
"The government’s silence on the matter seems odd as the number one priority for which the administration was formed is to safeguard the sovereignty of Iraq and to confront any bid that would undermine it,” Rubaie said, cited by Press TV.
"Violation of Iraq’s sovereignty by the U.S. military is rejected, and we will not allow it. Unfortunately, the government cannot support the Iraqi airspace, which is an integral part of our national sovereignty,” he added.
Separately, Ahmed al-Kanani, a lawmaker for the al-Sadiqoun bloc which is the political wing of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, said, "The decision about withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is still in effect, and will not change with the departure of Donald Trump’s administration.”
"The Iraqi government must act in line with the parliament’s decision on pullout of American soldiers from the country. The government is obliged to implement it,” he noted.
Kanani stressed that the Iraqi parliament’s resolution concerning the withdrawal of foreign troops, including American ones, has popular support.
Anti-American sentiment has been running high in Iraq since the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units, along with their companions in a U.S. assassination drone airstrike authorized by President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.
Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill two days later, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.
"The Americans are unofficially operating in the airspace over Iraq, and violating the country’s aerial sovereignty,” Mahmoud al-Rubaie, spokesman for the political bureau of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq group, said Friday.
"The flagrant and repeated violations of the Iraqi airspace by Americans are closely related to the strange position of the Iraqi government, and its inaction.”
"The government’s silence on the matter seems odd as the number one priority for which the administration was formed is to safeguard the sovereignty of Iraq and to confront any bid that would undermine it,” Rubaie said, cited by Press TV.
"Violation of Iraq’s sovereignty by the U.S. military is rejected, and we will not allow it. Unfortunately, the government cannot support the Iraqi airspace, which is an integral part of our national sovereignty,” he added.
Separately, Ahmed al-Kanani, a lawmaker for the al-Sadiqoun bloc which is the political wing of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, said, "The decision about withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is still in effect, and will not change with the departure of Donald Trump’s administration.”
"The Iraqi government must act in line with the parliament’s decision on pullout of American soldiers from the country. The government is obliged to implement it,” he noted.
Kanani stressed that the Iraqi parliament’s resolution concerning the withdrawal of foreign troops, including American ones, has popular support.
Anti-American sentiment has been running high in Iraq since the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units, along with their companions in a U.S. assassination drone airstrike authorized by President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.
Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill two days later, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.