The US and Iraq on Friday announced a plan that will end the mission of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq, but US troops will remain in the country under a “bilateral security partnership.”
Iraqi security officials told The Associated Press that US troops would be withdrawing from a base at the Baghdad International Airport and the Ain al-Asad Airbase in Western Iraq. US officials refuse to say how many of the 2,500 US troops in Iraq, if any, will be leaving the country.
“The US is not withdrawing from Iraq,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Friday. She said the US would be changing its “footprint” in the country but wouldn’t share any details.
“This is a step in our relationship and a progress towards a bilateral security agreement, and we’ll have more details to share when we’re ready,” Singh said.
Under the plan, the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq will officially end its mission by September 2025, but it will continue to operate in Syria and be supported from Iraqi territory until September 2026. The US has about 900 troops occupying eastern Syria and backs the Kurdish-led SDF, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syria’s territory.
The plan is unlikely to placate the many elements in Iraq who want the US to leave, and it could lead to more rocket and drone attacks on US bases. Recent Israeli escalations in Lebanon could also provoke attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani began calling for an end to the US military presence following an escalation between the US and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shia militias that are part of Iraq’s security forces.
The US launched heavy airstrikes against the PMF over rocket and drone attacks on US bases, which began in response to US support for Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. Hundreds of attacks targeted US bases before a drone hit Tower 22, a secretive US base in Jordan on the Syrian border, in January, killing three US Army Reserve soldiers.
The Iraqi government has been under pressure to expel the US since January 2020, when a US drone strike in Baghdad killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and PMF leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. After the strike, the Iraqi parliament voted to expel US forces, but the US refused to leave.
The US has been able to stay in Iraq due to the significant economic leverage it has over the country. Since the 2003 invasion, Iraq’s foreign reserves have been held by the US Federal Reserve, giving Washington control over Baghdad’s dollar supply and the ability to devalue the Iraqi dinar.
