The US military says its withdrawal of troops from Iraq is complete

Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP/Getty Images

The US military announced on Wednesday that it has completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq , ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group .

The last US troops left the last air base where they had been present in northern Iraq under an agreement between Baghdad and Washington.

The move, which came in the midst of an ongoing war between the United States and Iran that has also sometimes spilled over into Iraq, was touted by Baghdad as a sign of the country’s increasing strength and sovereignty.

The withdrawal was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups but raised concerns among some other other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that US troops and equipment had completed an “orderly departure” from the air base in Irbil, in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

“This milestone reflects the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region,” he said. “It also marks a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi presided over the handover ceremony and described the US withdrawal as the beginning of a “a new phase, one defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends.”

US troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. They departed in 2011, but three years later, Iraqi authorities invited a smaller US-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had rampaged across Iraq, seizing large swaths of territory.

With the extremist group reduced to scattered sleeper cells, Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind the mission down.

US 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 US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28. Iran-backed Iraqi militias also have coordinated with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.

The Iraqi government initially linked the September 30 deadline for US withdrawal to the disarmament of non-state armed groups by that date.

While a handful of less-influential militias have agreed to turn over their weapons, powerful groups close to Iran rejected the prospect or set conditions for disarming that the government would be unlikely to meet.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has since walked back the deadline. He told The New York Times earlier this month that the deadline for militia disarmament has been pushed to June 2027.

The effects of the US withdrawal may not be immediately visible, particularly since the US military presence had already been scaled down. But officials in Iraq’s Kurdish region have expressed anxiety about the departure and particularly about the removal of US air defense systems.

The Kurdish regional government’s Peshmerga Ministry said the Kurdish region had faced more than 1,000 drone and ballistic-missile attacks during the recent US-Iran conflict.

“The departure of the United States from the Kurdistan Region under these complex regional circumstances, without the provision of a defense system, is a matter of concern,” the statement said.

Iran-allied groups in Iraq, meanwhile, have celebrated the US withdrawal.

“The expulsion of the occupation forces, defeated, from the land of Iraq is the beginning of full sovereignty,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official with the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, said in a statement.

He added a warning to al-Zaidi and his government not to carry out American plans, threatening that “any government that does not work for the benefit of the people will be overthrown by all means.”

Zaid Al-Obeidi/AFP/Getty Images

美国军方周三宣布，已完成从伊拉克撤军，结束了长达 12 年打击伊斯兰国组织的行动。

根据巴格达和华盛顿之间的协议，最后一批美军撤离了他们在伊拉克北部驻扎的最后一个空军基地。

当时正值美国和伊朗之间持续不断的战争，这场战争有时还会蔓延到伊拉克。巴格达方面称此举是伊朗国力和主权日益增强的标志。

伊朗支持的团体对此次撤军表示欢迎，但其他一些伊拉克人，特别是库尔德地区的伊拉克人，对此表示担忧。

五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔在一份声明中表示，美军部队和装备已从伊拉克北部半自治库尔德地区的埃尔比勒空军基地“有序撤离”。

他说：“这一里程碑标志着历时12年的战役取得了成功，这场战役最终击败了ISIS在伊拉克乃至整个地区的有组织军事威胁。这也标志着从战时联军任务向伊拉克主导的安全行动过渡，而这一行动又得到了更加正常的双边安全关系的支持。”

伊拉克总理阿里·扎伊迪主持了交接仪式，并将美国撤军描述为“一个新阶段的开始，这一阶段的特点是伊拉克的主权、强大的机构、充足的军队准备、统一的决策以及与盟友的平衡伙伴关系”。

2003年，美军入侵伊拉克推翻萨达姆·侯赛因政权。他们于2011年撤离，但三年后，伊拉克当局邀请了一支规模较小的美国领导的特派团，打击在伊拉克肆虐、占领大片领土的伊斯兰国组织。

随着极端组织被削弱到只剩下零星的潜伏小组，华盛顿和巴格达于 2024 年同意逐步结束这项任务。

去年，美军撤出了伊拉克大部分地区的基地，但在半自治的北部库尔德地区保留了数百名士兵。自2月28日美国和以色列对伊朗发动战争以来，这些基地经常遭到袭击。伊朗支持的伊拉克民兵组织还与也门胡塞武装协调，袭击沙特阿拉伯。

伊拉克政府最初将美国撤军的最后期限（9月30日）与非国家武装团体在该日期前解除武装挂钩。

虽然少数影响力较小的民兵组织同意交出武器，但与伊朗关系密切的强大团体拒绝了这一前景，或者提出了政府不太可能满足的解除武装条件。

总理阿里·扎伊迪后来撤回了最后期限。他本月早些时候告诉《纽约时报》，民兵解除武装的最后期限已推迟到2027年6月。

美国撤军的影响可能不会立即显现，尤其是在美军此前已缩减规模的情况下。但伊拉克库尔德地区的官员对美军撤离，特别是撤走美军防空系统，表示担忧。

库尔德地区政府佩什梅加部表示，在最近的美伊冲突中，库尔德地区遭受了超过1000次无人机和弹道导弹袭击。

声明称：“在当前复杂的地区形势下，美国撤离库尔德斯坦地区，且没有提供防御系统，这令人担忧。”

与此同时，伊拉克境内与伊朗结盟的各派势力对美军撤离表示庆祝。

“将战败的占领军驱逐出伊拉克领土，是伊拉克实现完全主权的开始，”强大的真主党旅民兵组织的安全官员阿布·穆贾希德·阿萨夫在一份声明中说。

他还警告扎伊迪及其政府不要执行美国的计划，并威胁说“任何不为人民谋福利的政府都将不惜一切手段被推翻”。