Barham Salih confirmed the decision on Thursday and said, "The number of American and foreign troops in Iraq does not exceed 2,500, and the presence of these troops in Iraq is about to end,” Iraq's al-Maluma news agency reported.
The Iraqi president also referred to the gap created in the relations between Baghdad and Erbil and underlined the need to provide the grounds to put such relations on the right track through a national dialogue.
Anti-US sentiments have been running high in Iraq since the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Ghasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and his Iraqi companion Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units, along with their companions in a US assassination drone airstrike authorized by former US President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Iraqi lawmakers approved a bill two days after the attack, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country.
Currently, there are approximately 2,500 American troops in Iraq.
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