The US military has completely withdrawn from Iraq, according to an Iraqi government official.
All US combat troops and logistical support forces have left the country, the official told dpa on Sunday.
According to the Pentagon, around 2,500 U.S. troops had been stationed in Iraq in recent years. Iraq and the US agreed on the withdrawal in 2024.
Before the withdrawal, U.S. forces were based in Erbil in the Kurdish region, at a base near Baghdad airport and in the capital’s government district known as the Green land.
The US and allied countries launched their campaign against the Islamic State terrorist organisation in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The extremist group was declared militarily defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019.
Islamic State cells remain active and continue to carry out occasional attacks, but the Sunni extremist group lost the large areas it once controlled in both countries.
The security situation in Iraq has deteriorated again since the start of the Iran war.
Washington and Tehran repeatedly confronted each other in Iraq in previous years and came close to war on several occasions.
Hundreds of attacks have been carried out during the current Iran war, including against US facilities and troops in Iraq as well as targets belonging to Kurdish forces.
Iran and Iran-aligned forces are expected to welcome the U.S. withdrawal.
Four official public holidays will begin in Iraq on Wednesday, when the deadline for the US withdrawal formally expires.
The occasion is to be celebrated as “Independence Day,” with public institutions closed.
Powerful Iran-aligned militias in Iraq had originally been due to disarm and be integrated into the state security apparatus in parallel with the US troop withdrawal.
The move, announced by Prime Minister Ali al-Saidi, was later postponed and is now due to take place in June next year.
The US and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003, despite international criticism and toppled then-ruler Saddam Hussein.
After withdrawing in 2011, the U.S. military returned in 2014 at the request of the Iraqi government to fight the Islamic State.
(dpa/NAN)
