Iraqi Terror Groups Agree to Temporarily Hold Fire

Iran-backed Shia militia groups which have for months ramped up their targeting of American forces stationed in Iraq announced Sunday they were willing to suspend all rocket fire for the time being, if the Baghdad government would commit to an expedient and total withdrawal of the 5,000 United States troops. While a spokesman for one of the groups, who have all declared their temporary coordination, acknowledged there would be no hard deadline set, he did threaten the return of violent strikes if the US military “insisted” on maintaining a presence in Iraq. The terror groups’ “conditional cease-fire” offer was made after last month Washington threatened to pull its embassy from Baghdad over the repeated attacks against its troops and diplomats. The Iraqi government and general public, fearful that such a move would entail massive American airstrikes against Shia groups and turn Iraq into a battleground for a US-Iran proxy war, urged the groups to lay off the violence.