Biden, Iraqi PM agree on talks for US-led coalition withdrawal

US President Joe Biden and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said Monday they would keep working towards the withdrawal of a US-led anti-jihadist coalition in the country.

Their meeting at the White House came amid soaring tensions in the Middle East after Iraq's neighbor Iran launched a massive aerial attack on US ally Israel over the weekend.

The US-led military coalition was formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group -- the year the jihadists overran nearly a third of Iraq's territory and swaths of neighboring Syria.

Iraq has been trying to stay out of regional tensions amid the six-month war waged by Israel against Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, following Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.