The governor of Iraq’s Nineveh Province today condemned a raid by US forces against the neighborhood of Zammar in the province’s major city of Mosul as a violation of the Withdrawal of the American Forces from Iraq Agreement, which ostensibly ended the combat operations in the nation.
The governor, Ethel Nujaifi, said that the raid was “a politically motivated sweep” and that the US troops weren’t allowed to conduct such a raid without permission from the Iraqi government. No such permission appears to have been obtained.
The US has commented on the raid in Mosul yet, which is surprising as US forces are supposed to only be playing a “support” role in Iraqi government raids, and are barred from holding any detainees for longer than 24 hours. Again, they appear to have sloughed off these requirements.
President Obama and other US officials made much of the beginning of this month marking the “end of combat operations” in Iraq, but there continues to be a surprising amount of raiding and combat going on since then.