Officials say US forces on track to complete Iraq pullout by September 30

Washington, Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down US-led operations against the Islamic State; Iraq also calls on Iran-backed militias to disarm, though they're unlikely to do so The post Officials say US forces on track to complete Iraq pullout by September 30 appeared first on The Times of Israel. military is on track to pull all of its forces out of Iraq by the end of September, officials said Wednesday. Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down the much smaller U.S.-led operations against the Islamic State group.

troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a presence in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. Bases there have regularly come under attack since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met with Adm. Al-Zaidi said in a statement afterward that he had affirmed Sept. 30 as the “fixed and final date for ending the military mission of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq and completing the departure of its forces.” A U.S.

expects to complete its pullout by Sept. 30, but declined to say how many troops remain in Iraq or where they would be redeployed. “The United States, Iraq and coalition partners have achieved tremendous success in defeating ISIS and now the Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga and other Iraqi Kurdistan Region security forces, will lead the fight against terrorists in Iraq,” the official said.

Two Iraqi Kurdish officials said a drawdown of U.S. troops and military equipment from Erbil began about three weeks ago. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

presence in Iraq grew to more than 170,000 troops at the peak of counterinsurgency operations in 2007. In December 2011, the final combat troops departed. But in 2014, the rise of the Islamic State group and its capture of a wide swath across Iraq and Syria brought U.S.