Iraq’s parliament has voted in favour of a resolution to remove foreign troops from the country, in response to the US drone attack that killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
It came as sectarian violence broke out across the country in response to the assassination of Major-General Soleimani in a US drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport on Friday.
Around 5,000 US soldiers are currently stationed in Iraq, to aid the fight against ISIS.
Today, lawmakers approved the resolution asking the government to end a security agreement between Iraq and the US and expel American forces.
While parliamentary resolutions are non-binding to the government, this one is likely to be heeded after outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdihad earlier called on parliament to end foreign troop presence as soon as possible.
There are fears that a potential troop withdrawal could allow a resurgence of the extremists.
Iraqi parliamentarians voted on a resolution to remove the US troops and cancel the security agreement between Iraq and US
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi (left) attending the Iraqi parliament session in Baghdad
The vote was another sign of the blowback from the US airstrike Friday that killed Iranian General Soleimani and several top Iraqi officials at the Baghdad airport.
Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s proxy wars across the Mideast and was blamed for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in roadside bombings and other attacks.
Speaking to lawmakers in Parliament, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said that after the killing of Soleimani, the government has two choices: End the presence of foreign troops in Iraq or restrict their mission to training Iraqi forces.
‘As a prime minister and supreme commander of the armed forces, I call for adopting the first choice,’ Abdul-Mahdi said.
Abdul-Mahdi resigned last year in response to the anti-government protests that have engulfed Baghdad and the mostly Shiite southern provinces.
Political factions have been unable to agree on a new prime minister, and Abdul-Mahdi continues in a caretaker capacity.
Asked shortly before the parliamentary vote whether the US would comply with an Iraqi government request for American troops to leave, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not answer directly.
‘We’ll watch. We’re following very closely what’s taking place in the Iraqi Parliament,’ he told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘It is the United States that is prepared to help the Iraqi people get what it is they deserve and continue our mission there to take down terrorism from ISIS and others in the region.’
Tens of thousands of Iranians carrying the coffin of Qasem Soleimani while the crowds of mourners wept in the city of Mashad
A pullout of the estimated 5,200 US could also enable Iran to deepen its influence in Iraq.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Fox News that the parliamentary vote is ‘a bit concerning.’
‘The Iranian government is trying to basically take over Iraq’s political system. Iran is bribing Iraqi politicians. To the Iraqi people, do not allow your politicians to turn Iraq into a proxy of Iran,’ he said.
The majority of about 180 legislators present in Parliament voted in favor of the troop-removal resolution.
It was backed by most Shiite members of parliament, who hold a majority of seats.
Many Sunni and Kurdish legislators did not show up for the session, apparently because they oppose abolishing the deal.
‘The government should work on ending the presence of all foreign forces,’ Parliament Speaker Mohamed a-Halbousi said after the vote.
Supporters of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah chant slogans as he makes televised remarks at a rally in a southern suburb of Beirut
Iraqi officials have decried the killing of the general a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Abdul-Mahdi called it a ‘political assassination.’
The attack that killed Soleimani has dramatically escalated regional tensions and raised fears of outright war.
Amid Iran’s threats of vengeance, the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq announced Sunday it is putting the fight against Islamic State militants on hold to focus on protecting its troops and bases.
The coalition said it is suspending the training of Iraqi forces and other operations in support of the battle against ISIS.
Also, the leader of Lebanon´s Iran-backed Hezbollah group vowed to end the US military´s presence in the Middle East, saying U.S. bases, warships and soldiers are now fair targets.
‘The suicide attackers who forced the Americans to leave from our region in the past are still here and their numbers have increased,’ Nasrallah said.
It was not clear which suicide bombings Nasrallah was referring to. But a 1983 attack on a US Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 241 U.S. servicemen and led President Ronald Reagan to withdraw all American forces from the country.
Nasrallah spoke from an undisclosed location, and his speech was played on large screens for thousands of Shiite followers in southern Beirut, interrupted occasionally by chants of ‘Death to America!’
The comments were Nasrallah’s first since Soleimani’s killing.