Hezbollah hails withdrawal of US forces from Iraq as ‘historic achievement’

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has congratulated Iraq on a “great historic achievement” following the withdrawal of US forces from Iraqi territory, stating that the move is a victory for the Iraqi people and their resistance.

In a statement on Thursday, Hezbollah congratulated “Iraq, its religious authorities, government and people on this great historic achievement,” referring to the withdrawal of US forces from the country after they had been “humiliated and subdued” and failed to achieve their objectives in the face of the Iraqi people’s resistance.

The movement said the withdrawal came more than two decades after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, which had brought “terrorism, domination, oppression, and persecution” and resulted in division, destruction and the plundering of the country’s resources.

Hezbollah said the withdrawal would not have been possible without the steadfastness and resistance of the Iraqi people and the sacrifices made in confronting the US presence.

“This achievement would not have been possible without the steadfastness of the proud Iraqi people, their valiant resistance, their free and resolute will, and their firm determination to confront the occupation and expel it from their land,” the statement said.

It added that the development demonstrated that occupation and military power could not permanently suppress peoples seeking freedom and sovereignty.

“No matter how much time passes and how great the sacrifices become, no matter how immense the occupier’s tyranny, arrogance, domination, and brutality, and no matter how many instruments of power and repression it possesses, it will never be able to subjugate free peoples or break their will,” Hezbollah said.

The movement said the fate of occupying forces would ultimately be “decline, defeat, and downfall” in the face of popular awareness, steadfastness, resistance and unity.

Hezbollah also paid tribute to those who had contributed to ending the US military presence in Iraq and the wider region.

“We salute the fighters, the martyrs, the wounded, and all free people whose sacrifices and blood paved the way for the beginning of the end of the US military presence in our region,” the statement said.

Hezbollah wished Iraq continued “pride, dignity, and prosperity” and its people, leaders and religious authorities lasting peace and success.

US exit from Iraq heralds ‘beginning of expulsion’ from West Asia, entire Muslim world: IRGC

The IRGC says the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq heralds their expulsion from the West Asia region and the entire Muslim world.

Earlier on Thursday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq heralds their expulsion from the West Asia region and the entire Muslim world.

On Wednesday, the US military completed its withdrawal from Iraq, with the last troops leaving a base in Erbil under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington to end the US-led military occupation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who presided over the handover ceremony, described the withdrawal as the beginning of “a new phase” defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, stronger state institutions and “balanced partnerships with its friends.”

The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime, falsely claiming that Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction.

US-led coalition forces withdrew from Iraq in December 2011, but returned in 2014, using the seizure of large swathes of territory by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group as a pretext for their renewed military presence.

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