Iraqi forces fully take over Ain al-Asad air base after U.S. withdrawal

Iraqi forces have fully taken over the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq after U.S. personnel withdrew, Iraqi officials said Saturday, completing part of a broader drawdown plan tied to the end of a U.S.-led coalition campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq.

The change comes under an agreement reached by Washington and Baghdad in 2024, under which the U.S.-led coalition would be wound down by September 2025 and U.S. forces would depart bases where they had been stationed.

Iraqi officials said that although Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told journalists in October that the agreement originally called for a full pullout of U.S. forces from Ain al-Asad by September, developments in Syria required keeping a “small unit” of between 250 and 350 advisers and security personnel at the base.

On Saturday, Iraqi officials said all U.S. personnel have now departed from Ain al-Asad.

The Iraqi military said Iraq’s Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah oversaw the assignment of tasks and duties to various military units at the base following the withdrawal. The statement said Yarallah “instructed relevant authorities to intensify efforts, enhance joint work, and coordinate between all units stationed at the base, while making full use of its capabilities and strategic location.”

A Ministry of Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed that all U.S. forces had departed the base and that American equipment had been removed.

There was no statement from the U.S. military on the withdrawal, while U.S. forces have retained a presence in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north and in neighboring Syria.

Iraqi officials said the departure could strengthen the government’s position in discussions about disarmament of non-state armed groups, some of which have previously cited the presence of U.S. troops as justification for keeping their own weapons.

In a July interview with The Associated Press, al-Sudani said 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.”