US Central Command said in a press release on Saturday that its forces backed an airstrike near Rawa, Iraq, that was launched by Iraqi Security Forces on February 12.
The command claimed the strike killed five ISIS fighters and said its “initial post-strike clearance confirmed the dead ISIS operatives, various medium and small caliber weapons, grenades, suicide explosive belts, and ammunition.”
The attack marks the third time CENTCOM said it backed an airstrike launched by the Iraqi government since President Trump took office on January 20. The last strike occurred on February 12 near Kirkuk, which CENTCOM claimed killed two ISIS operatives.
The US has continued military operations against ISIS in Iraq in recent years despite the government repeatedly saying it doesn’t need the US’s help against ISIS remnants. In 2024, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani called for the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops, and Washington and Baghdad entered talks about the US presence.
Those talks resulted in the US and Iraq announcing a deal to officially end the mission of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition by September 2025, but it said the US will remain in Iraq under a “bilateral partnership.” The Pentagon said at the time that the US was “not withdrawing from Iraq.”
