US forces fully withdraw from Iraq after two decades of presence

The US armed forces have fully withdrawn from Iraqi territory, an Iraqi government source told the German news agency DPA on Sunday. Combat forces and support units have left the country, the source said.

The governments of both countries had reached an agreement on the withdrawal of US forces by 2024. According to the US Pentagon, around 2,500 members of the US armed forces had been stationed on Iraqi territory in recent years.

Before their withdrawal, US forces were stationed at bases in Erbil, in the autonomous Kurdistan region, at the airport of the capital Baghdad, as well as in the heavily guarded zone housing government agencies and foreign embassies, the so-called Green Zone.

A US-led military coalition joined the campaign against the jihadist organisation Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria in 2014. The extremist organisation saw the collapse of its “caliphate” first in Iraq in 2017, then in Syria in 2019.

However, ISIS cells remain active and launch sporadic attacks in both countries, despite the loss of the vast areas they once held.

The security situation in Iraq worsened again after war broke out in the Middle East with the US and Israeli attack on February 28. The US armed forces and Iranian armed groups close to the Islamic Republic had clashed repeatedly in recent years.

Since the outbreak of the war, there have been hundreds of attacks, particularly against US forces and installations.

Starting Wednesday, the day the US military is due to leave, Iraq is expected to hold a four-day celebration marking “Independence Day”.

The US and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003, toppling Saddam Hussein. The US military, which had withdrawn most of its combat troops from the country in 2011, returned in 2014 at Baghdad’s request to confront ISIS.