Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and President Barham Salih assured Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that US forces and property in Iraq would be protected amid a protest at the American embassy in Baghdad, the State Department said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st December, 2019) Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and President Barham Salih assured Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that US forces and property in Iraq would be protected amid a protest at the American embassy in Baghdad, the State Department said on Tuesday."Both Abdul-Mahdi and Salih assured the Secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for and would guarantee the safety and security of US personnel and property," the State Department said in a readout of Pompeo's phone calls with the two Iraqi officials.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iraqi protesters torched the outside fence of the US Embassy in the capital of Baghdad in response to US airstrikes, which targeted the Iraqi Shia Kata'ib Hezbollah militia in Iraq and Syria, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
Protesters continue to attempt to break inside the US Embassy as American soldiers assigned to guard the diplomatic compound remain barricaded inside, according to media reports.
Mahdi called on protesters to leave area surrounding the US embassy. He said the Iraqi government strongly condemned the US airstrikes and Baghdad has taken measures to settle the situation in a way that secured Iraqi sovereignty.
The State Department noted that Pompeo confirmed the United States' support for Iraq's independence and sovereignty, but will protect and defend its people and property.
On Sunday, the Pentagon said it had carried out "defensive strikes" against five Kata'ib Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria in retaliation against the group's attack on a US base near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk that left one US defense contractor dead and four American soldiers wounded on Friday.
