Iran-backed militias offer truce if U.S. pulls out of Iraq

BAGHDAD— Iraqi militias backed by Iran have agreed to temporarily halt attacks targeting the American presence in Iraq, on the condition that U.S.-led coalition troops withdraw from the country in line with a parliamentary resolution, three militia officials said Sunday.

The militia officials spoke to The Associated Press just hours after a roadside bomb targeted a convoy that was transporting equipment for the U.S.-led coalition, damaging one vehicle, an Iraqi army statement said. The attack on a highway south of Baghdad prompted questions over whether such a truce could hold across all militia factions.

Roadside bombs and in particular rocket attacks targeting the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad — located inside the heavily fortified Green Zone — have become a frequent occurrence and have strained ties between Washington and Baghdad.

The militia factions offered a truce and will refrain from targeting the U.S. in Iraq, including the embassy, on the condition that all American-led forces withdraw within an “acceptable time frame,” said Mohammed Mohie, a spokesperson for the powerful Iranbacked Kataib Hezbollah.

“If it does not withdraw, the resistance factions will resume their military activities with all the capabilities available to them,” he said. Two other factions from different Iranbacked groups echoed Mohie’s comments, without specifying a length for the truce, and said it was open-ended.

Iraqi lawmakers voted in January on a non-binding resolution to oust U.S.-led coalition troops from the country, following a Washington-directed drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu

Mahdi al-Muhandis outside Baghdad’s international airport.

The militia factions’ comments indicate some de-escalation following weeks of tensions. The Trump administration has warned Iraq’s leadership it would close the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad if the militia groups were not contained. American officials have said that while it was a serious threat, it was not an imminent ultimatum.