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<\/p>\nThe US military says its withdrawal of troops from Iraq is complete<\/p>\n
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The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group. The last U.S. troops left an air base in northern Iraq under a deal between Baghdad and Washington.<\/p>\n
Related video: Trump criticizes UK for releasing suspects in alleged terror plot targeting base used by US<\/p>\n
The withdrawal, agreed on two years ago, comes against the backdrop of the ongoing war between the United States and Iran that has also sometimes spilled over into Iraq, with Iran-backed militias firing on U.S. troops and the U.S. striking the groups’ strongholds.<\/p>\n
Baghdad touted the end of the U.S. mission as a sign of the country’s increasing strength and sovereignty.<\/p>\n
The withdrawal was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups but raised concerns among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region. Meanwhile, questions loom around the future of the Iraqi militias, which the Baghdad government has sought \u2014 with little success so far \u2014 to disarm.<\/p>\n
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that U.S. troops and equipment had completed an \u201corderly departure\u201d from the air base in Irbil, in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis milestone reflects the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region,\u201d he said. \u201cIt also marks a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presided over the handover ceremony and described the U.S. withdrawal as the beginning of a \u201cnew phase, one defined by Iraq\u2019s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Iraqi security forces will continue the fight against IS and the government will ensure that non-state groups no longer hold weapons.<\/p>\n
U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. They departed in 2011, but three years later, Iraqi authorities invited a smaller U.S.-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had rampaged across Iraq, seizing large swaths of territory.<\/p>\n
With the extremist group reduced to scattered sleeper cells, Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind the mission down. <\/p>\n
U.S. troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a small presence of hundreds of troops in the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. Bases there have regularly come under attack since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran-backed Iraqi militias also have coordinated with Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n