US Ambassador to Iraq claims ISIS poses threat in Iraq

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad that ISIS remains a threat in Iraq and that the US-led military coalition is still working with Iraq to completely eliminate the group.

Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, said earlier that ISIS no longer constituted a danger in Iraq and that the international coalition was unnecessary.

“Our work is essentially not done, and we want to ensure that Iraqi forces can continue the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Romanowski told Reuters.

Al-Sudani also confirmed that the Iraqi government is moving toward ending the presence of the international coalition in Iraq.

UN experts said in a report issued last August that the ISIS group still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former strongholds in Syria and Iraq, according to the AP.

The report mentioned that during the first half of 2023, the threat posed by ISIS remained mostly high in conflict zones and low in non-conflict areas.

The report that is directed to the UN Security Council illustrated that the overall situation is dynamic, and despite significant losses in the group’s leadership and reduced activity in Syria and Iraq, the risk of its resurgence remains.

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in late January that Baghdad had agreed with Washington to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of the international coalition from Iraq.

Iraq and the United States agreed to launch a High Military Committee to evaluate the threat ISIS poses and to draw up a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of the advisors of the international coalition combating ISIS in Iraq.

The agreement includes a transition to comprehensive political, economic, cultural, security, and military bilateral relations with the countries taking part in the international coalition to be consistent with the vision of the Iraqi government.