The last British and American troops have left Iraq — and Baghdad is calling it a day of sovereignty. Remaining UK personnel (around 100) and U.S. forces departed Wednesday from Irbil in northern Kurdistan in a co-ordinated exit, the BBC reported (Jonathan Beale and David Gritten).
Their departure ends Operation Inherent Resolve, the anti-Islamic State coalition mission that brought U.S. and British forces back to Iraq in 2014. It follows a U.S.–Iraq agreement signed two years ago to withdraw foreign troops by the end of this month.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said the end of the mission marks “Iraq’s transition to a phase in which it assumes full responsibility for its security and stability.” Iraq is set to hold four “Sovereignty Days” as a national holiday.
The UK Ministry of Defence said Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga had secured the enduring territorial defeat of Daesh, with UK support that trained and assisted more than 111,000 ISF members, including more than 21,000 Peshmerga. The RAF struck more than 2,300 IS targets. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called it the successful conclusion of the mission that defeated IS in Iraq, adding that primary responsibility for remaining challenges — IS remnants and Iran-aligned militias — now rests with the Iraqi government.
U.S. Central Command said the coalition joint taskforce remains operational and is now based in Jordan. The U.S. continues its IS mission in Syria. This is the third U.S./UK withdrawal from Iraq after they left in 2011 and returned in 2014.
Sources: BBC (Jonathan Beale / David Gritten); NPR
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