Iraq's pro-Iran Hashed orders pullback from US embassy

Baghdad, Jan 1 (AFP) Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi military force Wednesday ordered its supporters to end their sit-in at the US embassy compound in Baghdad, but hardliners pledged to stay put outside the mission. "You delivered your message," the Hashed said in a statement addressed to the crowds encircling the embassy since Tuesday in outrage over deadly American air strikes on a pro-Iran Hashed faction at the weekend.

It called on supporters to regroup outside the high-security Green Zone where the mission is located, but a leading commander in Kataeb Hezbollah, the group targeted in the US raids, told AFP they would "remain" at the embassy. (AFP) RUP