The withdrawal clears a base that has been a focal point of the debate over the American military presence in Iraq and may strengthen the government’s hand in negotiations aimed at disarming non-state armed groups that have cited U.S. troops on Iraqi soil as justification for keeping their own weapons.
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi army assumed full control of the Ain al-Assad air base in western Iraq on Saturday after U.S. forces completed their withdrawal from the installation, implementing a 2024 agreement between Washington and Baghdad to draw down the American military presence in the country, Iraqi officials said.
Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah oversaw the handover at the base, directing military units to assume their tasks and duties following the departure of U.S. personnel, the Iraqi military said in a statement. A Ministry of Defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed that all U.S. forces and all American equipment had left the base. The U.S. military issued no statement on the withdrawal.
Background on the drawdown agreement
Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq by September 2025, with U.S. forces departing bases where they had been stationed. The handover of Ain al-Assad came months after that deadline.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in October that “developments in Syria” had required maintaining a small unit of between 250 and 350 advisers and security personnel at the base beyond the original date. The withdrawal of that remaining contingent completes the base handover.
U.S. forces retain a presence in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and in neighboring Syria.
Implications for armed groups
The departure may strengthen the Iraqi government’s position in negotiations over the disarmament of non-state armed groups operating in the country. Some of those groups have used the presence of U.S. troops on Iraqi soil as justification for maintaining their own armed capacity.
Al-Sudani said in a July interview with the Associated Press that once the coalition withdrawal is complete, “there will be no need or no justification for any group to carry weapons outside the scope of the state.”