Iraq announces complete withdrawal of US-led coalition from federal territory

AFP | Baghdad

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Iraq said yesterday US-led coalition forces had finished with drawing from bases within the country's federal territory, which excludes the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.

"We announce today... the completion of the evacuation of all military bases and leadership headquarters in the official federal areas of Iraq of advisers" of the US-led coalition, the military committee tasked with overseeing the end of the coalition's mission said.

With the withdrawal, "these sites come under the full control of Iraqi security forces", it said in the statement, adding that they would transition to "the stage of bilateral security relations with the United States".

The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington outlining the end of the mission in Iraq by the end of 2025 and by September 2026 in the Kurdistan region.

US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, which had seized large swathes of both countries to declare their so-called "caliphate".