Iraq announces full withdrawal of US-led coalition from non-Kurdish regions

Baghdad says former US military sites to ‘come under the full control of Iraqi security forces,’ some two years after the US reached a deal to pull forces from Iraq

BAGHDAD — Iraq said on Sunday that US-led coalition forces had finished withdrawing from bases within the country’s federal territory, which excludes the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.

“We announce today… the completion of the evacuation of all military bases and leadership headquarters in the official federal areas of Iraq of advisers” of the US-led coalition, said the military committee tasked with overseeing the end of the coalition’s mission.

With the withdrawal, “these sites come under the full control of Iraqi security forces,” it said in the statement, adding that they would transition to “the stage of bilateral security relations with the United States.”

The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington outlining the end of the mission in Iraq by the end of 2025 and by September 2026 in the Kurdistan region.

US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, which had seized large swaths of both countries to declare its so-called “caliphate.”

The jihadist group was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but continues to operate sleeper cells.

Members of Babylon Police Command take part in a military parade during the Police Day celebrations, commemorating the 104th anniversary of the founding of the Iraqi Police, in Babylon Governorate, in central Iraq on January 9, 2026. (Karar Jabbar / AFP)

The vast majority of coalition troops withdrew from Iraq over previous stages, with only advisers remaining in the country.

The military committee on Sunday said Iraqi forces were now “fully capable of preventing the reappearance of Islamic State in Iraq and its infiltration across borders.”

“Coordination with the international coalition will continue with regards to completely eliminating Islamic State’s presence in Syria,” it added.

It pointed to “the coalition’s role in Iraq offering cross-border logistical support for operations in Syria, through their presence at an airbase in Erbil,” the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

A handout image taken and made available by the Barzani Headquarters on January 17, 2026, shows Kurdish political leader Massoud Barzani (5thL) sitting next to the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi (4thL) as they meet with the greeting the US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack (2nd R) in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.(Handout / BARZANI HEADQUARTERS / AFP)

In December, two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria in an attack blamed on Islamic State, sparking fears of a resurgence in the country.

The statement added that anti-Islamic State operations would be coordinated with the coalition through the Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province in western Iraq.

ISIS attacks in Iraq have massively declined in recent years, but the group maintains a presence in the country’s mountainous areas.

A UN Security Council report in August said: “In Iraq, the group has focused on rebuilding networks along the Syrian border and restoring capacity in the Badia region.”