Iraqi official: US troops have fully withdrawn from Iraq

 

All US combat troops and logistical support forces have left Iraq, an Iraqi government official told German agency dpa on Sunday. Washington has not yet confirmed the withdrawal.

Baghdad and Washington agreed on the pullout in 2024, and the formal deadline expires on 30 September. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had called the date "fixed and final." Iraq has declared four public holidays starting Wednesday, the day the deadline runs out.

Around 2,500 US troops had been stationed in Iraq in recent years. Most had already left federal Iraqi territory, with the last holdout at Harir Air Base in Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region. Kurdish outlet Rudaw reported earlier this month that the US had moved eight Patriot batteries from Iraq to Jordan.

The exit comes after months of relentless strikes on US positions. Since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on 28 February, Iran and allied Iraqi resistance factions have carried out hundreds of attacks on US facilities and Kurdish targets in the country.

 International coalition forces have not carried out any missions inside Iraq since the beginning of 2026, Iraqi Air Force Commander Khalid al-Tamimi said Monday, stressing that his force is operating “independently.”

“No force from the coalition has carried out any duty inside Iraqi territory from the beginning of 2026 until now,” Tamimi said in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency, two days before the coalition’s mission in Iraq is scheduled to end on Sept. 30.

“All missions currently carried out by the Air Force are independent of coalition forces, and there is no direct support from them,” he added.