Two US troops were wounded in a raid against ISIS in central Iraq that was conducted with Iraqi government forces, US Central Command said on Wednesday.
CENTCOM claimed seven ISIS fighters were killed in the raid, which it said was led by Iraqi forces. “During the Iraqi-led operation, two US military personnel were wounded while assisting Iraqi forces with site exploitation. They are in stable condition,” the command said.
CENTCOM said the Iraqi forces “conducted strikes and follow on raids on multiple ISIS locations” and that the attack was “enabled” by the US-led anti-ISIS coalition.
Since the beginning of the year, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has said Iraqi security forces could handle ISIS remnants without assistance from the US-led coalition, but US troops have continued to be involved in combat operations. On August 29, seven US troops were wounded during a raid against ISIS hideouts.
The US and Iraq entered talks earlier this year on the presence of the US-led coalition as al-Sudani was calling for all foreign troops to withdraw in response to escalations between the US and Iraqi Shia militias that are part of Iraq’s security forces.
In September, the US and Iraq announced that the US-led anti-ISIS coalition will officially end its mission in Iraq by September 2025, but US troops will remain in the country under a “bilateral security partnership.” It’s unclear if any of the 2,500 US troops in Iraq will withdraw.
Iraqi governments have been calling for US forces to leave for years, but the US has refused and has been able to stay due to its significant economic leverage over the country. Since the 2003 invasion, the US Federal Reserve has held Iraq’s foreign reserves, giving Washington control over Baghdad’s dollar supply and the ability to devalue the Iraqi dinar.
