What fighting in the Middle East means for the U.S. troop presence in Iraq
BAGHDAD — The militia commander was driving in an unmarked car when the United States killed him, the drone attack flinging the vehicle to the sidewalk and incinerating it in a busy neighborhood in east Baghdad.
The Feb. 7 killing of Kataib Hezbollah commander Abu Baqir al-Saadi wasn't the first strike by the United States in retaliation for a deadly attack on a U.S. base in Jordan last month. But, like the U.S. assassinations of senior Iranian and Iraqi officials in Baghdad four years ago, the attack has wider repercussions on the future of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
The war in Gaza between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas has ignited flashpoints in other parts of the region, raising fears of wider war. In Iraq, years-long hostilities between Iran-backed militias and the United States have erupted into deadly attacks on both sides.
Iraq's government condemned the U.S. drone strike on Saadi in the Iraqi capital as an attack on the country's sovereignty. The prime minister, who came to power with the support of Iran-backed political parties in Iraq, has acquiesced to calls to disband the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.
That includes about 2,500. There are another roughly 900 deployed in neighboring Syria, with support from U.S. bases in Iraq.
