Riot police stand guard during a protest outside the Iraqi capital Baghdad's Green Zone on Saturday, demanding the departure of remaining US forces from Iraq. Photo: AFP

Several hundred protesters gathered in the Iraqi capital on Saturday afternoon to demand US troops leave the country in accordance with a parliament vote earlier in 2020.

"We will choose resistance if parliament's vote is not ratified!" read one of the banners at the demonstration, which took place near an entrance to the high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy and other foreign missions are located. 

Others carried signs bearing the logo of Hashed al-Shaabi, a state-sponsored network of armed groups including many supported by Iraq's powerful neighbor Iran.

Following a US strike on Baghdad in January that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and the Hashed's deputy head, outraged Iraqi parliamentarians voted to oust all foreign forces deployed in the country.

The US has sent thousands of troops to Iraq since 2014 to lead an international coalition helping Baghdad fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

Washington has drawn down those forces in recent months to around 3,000, and other coalition countries have also shrunk their footprint.

Iraq has long been caught in the struggle for influence between its two main allies, the US and Iran, with the tug-of-war intensifying under US President Donald Trump.

The Iraqi government has been closely monitoring the results of the US presidential elections, as it sees a change in the White House as a sign that tensions between Washington and Tehran could decrease.

AFP