A United States-led coalition in Iraq to fight the Islamic State will end by September 2025, according to a joint statement released on Friday by the State Department and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
The agreement concludes the decade-long Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve that has deployed 2,500 U.S. personnel to Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria for the purpose of confronting ISIS activity in the region.
Although no specifics were disclosed in the memorandum, Iraqi officials told The Associated Press American forces will start their withdrawal in November from garrisons at the Baghdad International Airport and the Ain al-Asad Airbase.
An unknown number of U.S. troops will reportedly be repositioned at a facility in the country’s northern Kurdistan areas until 2026 to support operations against ISIS in Syria.
The request to discontinue the anti-ISIS mission comes as Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, has been under pressure from Tehran-backed elements in his government to lessen the influence of Washington in the Middle Eastern nation.
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