With ISIS beaten, Hezbollah says ready to withdraw from Iraq
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Hezbollah is ready to withdraw its forces from Iraq if they are no longer needed in the country following the defeat of ISIS.
“We consider that the mission has been accomplished, but we are waiting for the final Iraqi announcement of victory,” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address on Monday.
He said they had deployed “large numbers” of commanders and fighters to the country to fight ISIS. “If we find that it’s over, that there is no need for the presence of these brothers, they will return to be deployed in any other arena that needs them.”
Forces of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement have been deployed in Iraq among the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries. Nasrallah said last year that they were operating under local command and were not interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
Iraqi forces ousted ISIS from Rawa, the last urban area, on Friday. Military operations against the group are continuing across the border in Syria where Hezbollah is also engaged, backing the Syrian regime.
“We consider that the mission has been accomplished, but we are waiting for the final Iraqi announcement of victory,” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address on Monday.
He said they had deployed “large numbers” of commanders and fighters to the country to fight ISIS. “If we find that it’s over, that there is no need for the presence of these brothers, they will return to be deployed in any other arena that needs them.”
Forces of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement have been deployed in Iraq among the Iranian-backed Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries. Nasrallah said last year that they were operating under local command and were not interfering in Iraq’s internal affairs.
Iraqi forces ousted ISIS from Rawa, the last urban area, on Friday. Military operations against the group are continuing across the border in Syria where Hezbollah is also engaged, backing the Syrian regime.