Already under the threat of Iraqi Shiite militias close to Iran, the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS) organization has to deal with a new enemy, this time invisible. Faced with the risks posed by the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, coalition forces have stopped training Iraqi troops and withdrawn soldiers from the country, an official said on Thursday March 19. The epidemic has left 13 people dead and nearly 180 infected in Iraq, but the risk of contagion from neighboring Iran, where 1,284 people died and 18,407 others were infected, remains high, despite strict measures taken by Baghdad.
The 2,500 foreign instructors of the coalition suspended their training in early March, an official of the coalition told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity. "When the coronavirus crisis subsides, we will bring the men back and resume the necessary training", he added. The United Kingdom, one of the active members of the coalition in Iraq, has announced the repatriation of part of its troops. "Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the training needs of Iraqi security forces have been reduced," says the British Ministry of Defense, which specifies that the international coalition and NATO have therefore "Paused" their training for sixty days. London will maintain essential military personnel in Iraq, the statement added.
Rocket attacks
At the same time, the anti-IS coalition has begun to redeploy its troops to Iraq. US troops stationed at Al-Qaim base near the Syrian border on Thursday returned control of the base to Iraqi forces, spokesman for Joint Operations Commander General Tahsin Al-Khafaji said. . Two other bases should be evacuated, those of Qayyarah West and K-1, in the north of the country, which are also among the most exposed to attacks by pro-Tehran Shiite militias. US officials said the troops would be partially redeployed to the other five bases shared by the coalition with Iraqi forces, and partly sent to Syria and Kuwait.
Troop reinforcements are expected to operate the air defense systems currently being deployed in Iraq. Batteries of Patriot missiles must in particular be deployed to protect the bases where the American troops are stationed. Since October 2019, 25 rocket attacks have targeted U.S. or coalition interests, killing three Americans and a British soldier. Since the assassination in an American drone strike in Baghdad, on January 3, of the Iranian general Ghassem Soleimani and his lieutenant in Iraq, Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, the Shiite parties and militias close to Iran say they are determined to butt out foreign forces outside Iraq. The deadly attacks which have targeted these forces since the end of February have been claimed by the League of Revolutionaries (Usbat Al-Thairen), a new group made up, according to experts, of Shiite pro-Iran militias.
