Washington replaces 4 rules of the International Alliance with Patriot batteries

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[size=52]Washington replaces 4 rules of the International Alliance with Patriot batteries[/size]

[size=45]Hours after the international coalition forces withdrew from their fourth base in Iraq, the United States deployed the Patriot air defense missile system in Iraq. The move comes about two months after the American forces were attacked by Iranian ballistic missiles.
[size=45]Washington and Baghdad have been negotiating to deploy the air defense system since January 2020, when Tehran targeted ballistic missiles at Ein al-Assad base in western Iraq, in response to the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and deputy chief of the crowd, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.[/size]
[size=45]It was not immediately clear if the United States had finally obtained the approval of the Iraqi government.[/size]
[size=45]One of the Patriot batteries reached the Ain al-Assad base, where US soldiers are deployed, last week, and was installed, according to an American military official and an Iraqi military source.[/size]
[size=45]"Another battery has reached a base in Erbil," the US official said. The same official added that "two other batteries are still in Kuwait, awaiting transportation to Iraq." Patriot systems consist of highly sophisticated radars and interceptors that can destroy a ballistic missile while it is flying.[/size]
[size=45]A senior military source familiar with the negotiations told AFP, a few days ago, that "high-ranking Iraqi officials indicated during a meeting with US Central Command commander Gen. Kenneth Mackenzie last February that Washington could give Baghdad political cover by reducing its number in Iraq with the deployment of missiles. Defensive ”.[/size]
[size=45]Indeed, the US-led international coalition has withdrawn its soldiers from several bases.[/size]
[size=45]On Monday, the joint forces took over the headquarters of the International Alliance in Nineveh. "Based on the results of the fruitful dialogues between the Iraqi government and the international coalition, the site occupied by the coalition mission inside a camp in the Nineveh Operations Command has been returned to the Iraqi forces," it said in a statement.[/size]
[size=45]On Sunday, the international coalition forces returned Camp K1 in Kirkuk Governorate to the Iraqi forces. Notably, the K1 base has been attacked by dozens of Katyusha rockets, several times over the past months.[/size]
[size=45]On Thursday, the International Alliance Mission also returned the site it was operating at the Qayyara Air Force Base, south of Mosul.[/size]
[size=45]The Security Media Cell announced, in a statement, last Thursday, that the Iraqi security forces had taken over the Al-Qaim military base in Anbar Province, in the west of the country, after the withdrawal of the international coalition forces from them with all their military equipment.[/size]
[size=45]Officials in the International Alliance told (AFP) that the ultimate goal is to continue to support Iraqi forces fighting the remnants of ISIS, but "from fewer bases and with many fewer." The international coalition is also withdrawing hundreds of its trainers temporarily, and has stopped all training with Iraqi forces since the beginning of March, to avoid the risks of a new epidemic of the Corona epidemic among its forces.[/size]
[size=45]A Western diplomat in Baghdad noted, "The goal of the United States from the Patriot is to protect its forces, which are now present in fewer bases."[/size]
[size=45]On Monday, the head of the caretaker government, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, warned of "the danger of taking any accidental action without the approval of the Iraqi government," without referring to the Patriot.[/size]
[size=45]Abdul-Mahdi said in a statement that he is following with "anxiety the information monitored by our forces regarding the presence of unauthorized flying" near military areas in "Spyker, the Martyrs' Camp in Duz, Hilweh Airport, Ashraf Camp, Mansuriya and others."[/size]
[size=45]Last July, an unknown plane bombed the Martyrs' Camp in Amerli district, northeast of Salah al-Din (which is one of the camps mentioned by Abd al-Mahdi's last statement), and wounded two members of the Popular Mobilization, according to the government version.[/size]
[size=45]At the time, Washington denied responsibility for the attack, while information leaked at the time, that the bombing was directed against Iranian advisers present inside the camp.[/size]
[size=45]After the accident, Abdul-Mahdi formed an investigative committee, while crowd parties said that American drones attacked the “Turkmen crowd” in Amerli.[/size]
[size=45]As for the famous base "Spyker", it is known that it includes forces from the army and the police, in addition to the factions of the popular crowd, as is the case with the "New Iraq Camp", which was previously known as "Ashraf Camp".[/size]
[size=45]And Ashraf, north of Baquba, previously housed Iranian forces opposed to the regime in the Islamic Republic, known as the "Mujahedeen-e Khalq,” later transformed into the headquarters of the PMF in Diyala.[/size]
[size=45]As for the airport of Hilwah, east of Daquq (south of Kirkuk), it also includes factions of the popular crowd, as is the case in Mansuriyya, northeast of Baquba, and Samaya, southeast of Baghdad. The US military recently expressed concerns about threats it said were "imminent by Iranian-backed forces for US forces in Iraq", which are now on high alert. Iran says the United States is waging a "psychological war." A senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said his country would respond to any US hostile steps. Last Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Tehran was not seeking war with the United States despite growing tension over US sanctions, Iran's nuclear capabilities and its missile program.[/size]
[size=45]What is required is for the international coalition to obtain a green light from the Iraqi government to fly any reconnaissance planes and drones, but these permissions expired in early January.[/size]
[size=45]Nevertheless, US drones are still flying in Iraqi airspace.[/size]


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