US Forces Transfer 8 Daesh Ringleaders from Syria to Iraq: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US military forces have transferred eight ringleaders of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists from northern Syria to neighboring Iraq amid calls for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from the Arab country, a report said.
According to the report carried by al-Alam news network on Sunday, American forces recently relocated the terrorists to the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq.
The Daesh members were being kept at al-Hol refugee camp, which lies close to the Syria-Iraq border and is run by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The report added that the move by the US is part of Washington’s attempts to revive the terror group and use it as a leverage tool to force Iraq to give up its call for the withdrawal of American forces from the Arab country.
Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill on January 5, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country following the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions in a US airstrike authorized by President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport two days earlier.
Since then, the US-led coalition has handed over to the Iraqi army a number of bases it had occupied in the Arab country. However, it has also deployed further military equipment, including C-RAM systems and Patriot missile defense systems, to protect its remaining forces in the country.
On Saturday, the PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, in a joint statement vowed to put an end to the occupation of the Arab country by “American occupation forces".
The statement cited the US refusal to withdraw its forces from Iraq and its “continued aggression” against the country as the reasons for their decision.
“You have proven to everyone that you are occupation forces and that you only respect the language of force; on these bases you will be dealt with as occupiers,” the statement read.
It also said that the Iraqi resistance forces’ military operations are a basic response to US aggression.
“Be aware that all operations which have been carried out against you so far were only a minor response to your aggressions as the decision to carry out operations (against US forces) had not been taken back then,” it added.
