Spain FM visits Iraq, says attacks on US-led troops must stop
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares visits Baghdad amid mounting calls from his Iraqi hosts for the withdrawal of Spanish and other foreign troops that have been a frequent target for attack by pro-Iranian groups
Baghdad – Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Thursday that a spate of attacks targeting US-led troops in Iraq assisting the campaign against Islamic State group jihadists “need to stop”.
“We are extremely worried by the constant attacks against international military bases,” Albares said on a visit to Iraq, where his government has troops deployed. “Attacks against foreign troops need to stop.”
US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in more than 150 attacks since mid-October, many of them claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked groups that oppose US support for Israel in the Gaza conflict.
Washington has responded with air strikes targeting the groups it holds mainly responsible but the cycle of violence has prompted Baghdad to call for talks on a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops.
“We are here at the request of the government of Iraq and we will leave when the government of Iraq considers,” Albares said.
Spain has been one of the loudest voices in the European Union calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and Albares said the risks of an escalation of violence across the Middle East made a halt to the fighting even more important.
“I consider that it is crucial to avoid a spillover effect of the crisis in Gaza,” Albares told a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein.
“A lasting and immediate ceasefire must be immediately implemented to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population, to avoid a regional escalation.”
Albares said a ceasefire needed to be accompanied by an international peace conference that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, something the Israeli government has categorically ruled out, to the irritation of even its closest allies.
Spain has more than 300 soldiers in Iraq as part of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition and NATO’s mission in the country, which since last year has been under the command of Spanish General Jose Antonio Aguero Martinez.