US must go — Iraqi militias float ceasefire

An array of Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups have agreed to suspend rocket attacks on US forces on condition that Iraq s ’ government presents a timetable for a withdrawal of American troops, one of the groups said on Sunday.

“The factions have presented a conditional ceasefire,” Muhammad Mohi, spokesperson for the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group, said.

“It includes all factions of the [anti-US] resistance, including those who have been targeting US forces,” he said.

Mohi said the government must implement a parliamentary resolution in January that called for the withdrawal from Iraq of foreign troops.

The parliament s decision ’ came after a US drone strike at Baghdad airport killed Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani and Iraq s top Shiite ’ paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, raising fears of a full-scale Iran-US confrontation on Iraqi soil.

Mohi said there was no deadline for the government to implement the decision, but warned: If America insists on “staying and doesn t respect the ’ parliament s decision then the ’ factions will use all the weapons at their disposal.”

US officials blame Kataib Hezbollah for rocket attacks against US installations in Iraq.

Kataib Hezbollah denies this, while Smaller and previously unknown militias have claimed some of attacks. Iraqi security sources believe those groups are linked to Kataib Hezbollah and other larger Iran-aligned militias.