Iraq-US to announce coalition withdrawal plan this month: Reuters

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Reuters
7 Sep 2024 09:37
1 Shares

The Iraqi and American governments have agreed to the process of US coalition forces' withdrawal from Iraq after months of negotiations.

Listen

A United States soldier stands while bulldozers clear rubble and debris caused by an Iranian strike on the US Ain al-Assad Airbase in Anbar, Iraq, on January 13, 2020. (AP)

The United States and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, Reuters reported, citing multiple sources.

In detail, the plan has been broadly agreed upon but requires the final okay from both governments and an announcement date. If the agreement is finalized as is, hundreds of US troops and other foreign armed forces will leave Iraq by September 2025, while the rest will depart by the end of 2026.

"We have an agreement, it’s now just a question of when to announce it," a senior US official told Reuters.

New Iraq-US relations to follow

Meanwhile, the two governments seek to establish a new advisory relationship where some US troops remain in Iraq to complete such tasks.

Sources, including five US officials, two officials affiliated with other nations in the US-led coalition, and three Iraqi officials, spoke to Reuters on the matter.

Several of these sources said the deal could be announced this month after the announcement was delayed due to regional circumstances.

"We are now on the brink of transitioning the relationship between Iraq and members of the international coalition to a new level, focusing on bilateral relations in military, security, economic, and cultural areas," Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, said.

Details of the plan

According to the news agency, by September 2025, all coalition forces will leave the strategic Ain al-Assad Airbase in the western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad.

The US military, alongside troops from France, Italy, and Germany, maintains a strong presence in Iraq, while US forces occupy areas in neighboring northeastern Syria.

Ain al-Assad Airbase is one of the largest US military sites in the region and has been used to launch several attacks and assassination attempts.

US and other coalition forces are expected to remain in Erbil, in northern Iraq, for another year after the initial withdrawal phase.

According to Reuters, the withdrawals mark "a notable shift in Washington's military posture in the region."

Why was the decision made?

US forces have established several bases in Iraq, following their invasion of the country in 2004. In 2014, the US increased its military presence in the region after a previous reduction, under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

However, the US has used its sites in Iraq to launch attacks on affiliates of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and launch strikes with no coordination with the Iraqi government. In the past year, US coalition forces have also attacked Iraqi government sites and members of the government's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

On the other hand, the US military presence in the region has been targeted in more than 170 attacks since the Israeli war on Gaza was launched in October 2023.

After troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan were subject to increasingly deadly attacks by the region's Resistance factions, the Iraqi government and the US administration engaged in talks that would establish the US withdrawal roadmap in Iraq. In the meantime, Iraqi Resistance factions, who view the US coalition forces as an occupying force, announced that they would halt their operations.