Iraqi Joint Operations Command: Coalition Needed to Fight ISIS

Less than a year after Iraq’s parliament asked the US troops to leave, troop levels are rapidly being cut. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command appears uncomfortable with this, saying that they believe the foreign forces need to maintain a presence to fight ISIS.

Since the whole point of join operations command is to manage operations with foreign forces, one can see where the command’s usefulness might be in jeopardy with the pullout. Other Iraqi officials seem to disagree on the importance, believing that the foreign troops are no longer needed.

It’s hard to make the case anymore, as nobody in Iraq has been fighting ISIS force in a long time. The foreign troops have mostly been fighting with Iraq’s own militias, and even that seems to be winding down with a conditional suspension of attacks.

A spokesman for Ketaib Hezbollah says that the ceasefire is conditional on the expulsion of foreign troops, which means this push for troops to stay, and fight a non-existent ISIS, would also mean trying to provoke a war with the militias.