Rabu, 01 Januari 2020

Supporters of Iranian-backed militia start withdrawing from besieged U.S. Embassy in Baghdad following militia orders - The Washington Post

BAGHDAD — Supporters of an Iranian-backed militia began to withdraw from the perimeter of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday following an order from senior militia leaders to end their siege of the facility.

Supporters of the Kataib Hezbollah militia, who converged on the embassy to protest U.S. airstrikes that had killed 25 fighters Sunday, had spent the night camped outside the embassy. They began dismantling their tents and leaving the area, saying they had won a victory and would now seek the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq through the nation’s parliament.

Their retreat signaled a potential end to a crisis that had seen thousands of angry militia supporters attempt to storm the embassy on Monday, prompting the United States to send additional troop reinforcements to Iraq.

Some of the demonstrators began withdrawing from the area earlier in the afternoon after an order issued by the senior leadership of the Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashd Shaabi, the umbrella organization that groups scores of Shiite militias. The order was issued, the leadership said, “out of respect” for an instruction issued the previous day by the Iraqi government.

But several hundred supporters of Kataib Hezbollah and another Iranian-backed group, Harakat Nujaba, initially refused to comply, saying they took orders only from their own leadership.

A top Kataib Hezbollah official then showed up outside the embassy and instructed the remaining demonstrators to leave the area. “You have won a victory,” said Mohammed Mohyee, the group’s political spokesman, addressing the crowd through a loudspeaker. “We will take our fight to expel U.S. troops from our land to parliament and if we don’t succeed, we will return.”

The last demonstrators began dismantling the tents they had erected in preparation for what could have become a long siege, intended to pressure the United States to pull its troops and diplomats out of Iraq. They said they planned to relocate to an area on the opposite bank of the Tigris River and establish a protest camp there. The area is outside the fortified Green Zone, where the embassy is located, and does not pose a direct threat to the facility.

The apparent end to the siege came as U.S. troop reinforcements headed to the region. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said 750 soldiers from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division were en route to the Middle East and additional soldiers are expected to follow in the coming days.

The U.S. military had earlier released photographs showing a contingent of around 100 U.S. Marines landing in the grounds of the U.S. Embassy compound to reinforce the existing embassy protection force.

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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMi0wFodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vd29ybGQvc3VwcG9ydGVycy1vZi1pcmFuaWFuLWJhY2tlZC1taWxpdGlhLXN0YXJ0LXdpdGhkcmF3aW5nLWZyb20tYmVzaWVnZWQtdXMtZW1iYXNzeS1pbi1iYWdoZGFkLWZvbGxvd2luZy1taWxpdGlhLW9yZGVycy8yMDIwLzAxLzAxLzgyODBjYjM0LTJjOWUtMTFlYS05YjYwLTgxN2NjMThjZjE3M19zdG9yeS5odG1s0gEA?oc=5

2020-01-01 14:18:09Z
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