Iraqi Hezbollah: Closure of US Embassy Next Step after Parliament Vote

Iraqi Hezbollah group in a statement on Monday welcomed the parliament’s approval to expel the American forces from the country, stressing that closure of the US embassy will be the next step.

“What has happened was a major victory and, of course, it is the first step on the path of liberation and cleansing Iraq from enemies’ aggression and other important steps should also be taken in this regard, most importantly, closure of the US embassy in Iraq,” the statement said.

It added that the Iraqi parliament has materialized the demand of the Iraqi nation when it voted for the expulsion of the US forces.

Hezbollah, meantime, underlined efforts to establish security and stability in the country and safeguard the rights of all Iraqi people.

Iraq’s Parliament voted to have the US troops removed from the country, heeding a call from Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi to take urgent measures and end the foreign forces presence as soon as possible.

The Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution to work to end the foreign troop presence in the Arab country in the wake of a US targeted assassination of a top Iranian general and a commander of Iraqi popular forces.

The resolution, which was passed anonymously, instructed the government to cancel a request for military assistance to the US-led coalition, which was issued in response to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (known as ISIL, ISIS or Daesh) terror group.

“The government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant due to the end of military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory,” the resolution read, adding, “The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason.”

The resolution stated that Iraqi military leadership has to report the number of foreign instructors that are necessary for Iraqi national security.

Earlier, Abdul Mahdi had requested that parliament order the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.