DUBAI, Feb 8 — Repeated US strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are pushing the government to end the mission of the US-led coalition in the country, the prime minister’s military spokesman Yahya Rasool said today.

The US military said a strike yesterday killed a commander from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that the Pentagon has blamed for attacking its troops.

Rasool said in a statement that the US-led coalition "has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict.”

The US-led international military coalition in Iraq was set up to fight Islamic State. The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of the group.

Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, Iraq and Syria have witnessed almost daily tit-for-tat attacks between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in the region. — Reuters