Australia will maintain a military presence in Iraq despite the missile strikes that Iran launched on Wednesday night against American military bases, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
“We will remain committed to this mission”, – he told reporters Thursday.
The prime minister said the situation in Iraq has stabilized over the last night.
“This means that we are able to continue to carry out the mission that we have set for ourselves in the Middle East, and we remain committed to this, like our other partners”, – he said.
Morrison also said he discussed developments in Iraq with the Canadian prime minister.
“We stay together and work together to ensure not only the security of our own people, but also to ensure we are able to continue building a stronger Iraq”, – he said.
As reported, Wednesday night Iran launched missile strikes against two U.S. military bases in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Iran used a total of 16 missiles in the attacks. Of those, 12 missiles reached their targets – 11 hit Al-Assad Air Base and one hit Erbil Base.
The infrastructure of the bases was “moderately damaged”: Helicopters, tents and equipment parking lots were damaged.
Mark Millie, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the loss of life was avoided because of the defense readiness and effectiveness of the U.S. early warning system.
At the same time, as reported, on Sunday last week, the Iraqi parliament considered the issue and made a decision concerning the withdrawal of the American military contingent and the contingent of the coalition countries that are at war against the IG (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).
The decision requires the Iraqi government to achieve a one-stop withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country.
The motive was the U.S. military operation in Iraq, which resulted in the death of Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Iranian special unit, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the People’s Mobilization Force (SNM) of Iraq (Al Hashd al-Shaabi).