US forces patrol Mosul street; Iraqi militia claims to have blocked them
The US military, as the leading member of the global coalition against the Islamic State, has provided aerial support to Iraqi forces in multiple cities within in Iraq, including Mosul.
The embattled city was liberated from the Islamic State in mid-2017 with the Shia militias often retaining a sizeable presence within the city since.
The PMF, supported by the federal government of Iraq, played a key role alongside federal Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga in liberating various areas from the jihadist group that took over large swaths of territory across Iraq in 2014.
In recent days, senior commanders from multiple PMF militias have strengthened their continuing demands that US forces leave Iraq entirely and have threatened to target them if they should remain.
This, however, is not the official stance of Baghdad toward the US troops, who continue to train Iraqi forces.
Editing by John J. Catherine
