US troops exit Iraq after more than a decade

The coalition troops deployed to Iraq in 2014 (FILE PHOTO: May, 15. 2011)Image: Ali Al-Saadi/AFPAdvertisementAfter more than ten years, US forces are to withdraw from their remaining military bases in Iraq on Wednesday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi declared that October 1, the day following the coalition's departure, should be celebrated as Sovereignty Day.

It is "a national occasion that affirms the completion of Iraq's path toward sovereignty and consolidates the presence of the state and its institutions," the heads of the executive, legislative and judicial branches said on Monday.

The troops were delpoyed in Iraq and Syria in 2014, to tackle the "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist group, which had taken over large swathes of both countries.

The IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but coalition forces stayed on to battle the group's remnants.

The complete departure of US troops from Iraq comes 23 years after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein, triggering widespread upheaval and chaos, before the rise of IS.

Iran and its allies celebrated the withdrawal of US forces, which was agreed upon in 2024 by then-US President Joe Biden. The agreement has now been executed under Donald Trump's term even as US continues to wage a war against Iran.

Iran, which wants a US-free Middle East, sees the US pullout from Iraq as a triumph for its "axis of resistance" of ​allied armed groups across the region.

The withdrawal of the US troops from Iraq has raised threats of diminished security in the region as Iran-backed Shi'ite militias are vying to gain more control and potentially regroup 'IS'.

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