The demonstrators are angry at US air strikes against the Tehran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.
Supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups who stormed the US Embassy’s perimeter and hurled rocks in two days of protests withdrew on Wednesday after Washington dispatched extra troops and threatened reprisals against Tehran.
US President Donald Trump, who faces a re-election campaign in 2020, accused Iran of orchestrating the violence. He threatened on Tuesday to retaliate against Iran but said later he did not want war. Pompeo spoke on Wednesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the State Department said.
The anti-American action came after months of protests in Iraq against the government and the Iran-backed militias that support it. Many Iraqis complain their country has become a battlefield for a proxy war for influence between Washington and Tehran, and that their leaders are too beholden to outside powers.
More than 5,000 US troops are stationed in Iraq supporting local forces. The air strikes have galvanised calls inside Iraq to expel them.‘Devil’s den’
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