After more than a decade, the US-led coalition is ending its military mission in Iraq, closing a chapter in the fight against jihadists while leaving behind unresolved tensions over foreign forces and armed groups.
The coalition deployed troops to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (IS) group, which had seized large areas of both countries and carried out massacres and other atrocities.
IS was defeated territorially in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but coalition forces remained to pursue the group’s remnants and support Iraqi security forces.
Baghdad and Washington agreed in 2024 to wind down the coalition’s mission. Its troops subsequently withdrew from bases across the country, with the remaining contingent concentrated in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
The final withdrawal from the region is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Iraqi government believes the coalition’s departure will remove a justification used by powerful Tehran-backed armed factions to maintain their weapons outside state control.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has declared October 1, the day after the coalition’s departure, as Sovereignty Day.
It is “a national occasion that affirms the completion of Iraq’s path toward sovereignty and consolidates the presence of the state and its institutions”, the heads of the executive, legislative and judicial branches said in a joint statement on Monday.
They also said that “the presence of weapons outside state authority must be addressed… in line with timelines set by the government, in a manner that strengthens state sovereignty”.
‘For the good of its people’
Zaidi, who came to power this year with US support, has pledged to strengthen the state’s monopoly over weapons and ensure that armed factions ultimately hand over their arms to the government.
His administration initially set September 30 as a deadline for factions to disarm, but later abandoned the deadline as negotiations continued over how to bring weapons under state control.
The issue has fuelled tensions and is expected to take considerably longer to resolve.
With several powerful factions refusing to disarm, senior politicians have stepped in to seek a compromise.
The armed groups have set conditions that include not only the withdrawal of foreign troops but also an end to what they describe as US political and economic interference in Iraq.
Kataeb Hezbollah, one of the most powerful Iran-backed factions, said in a statement on Monday that the withdrawal of “the occupation forces… is a start towards achieving full sovereignty”.
The group, however, also issued a warning to Zaidi’s government.
“A government that doesn’t work for the good of its people will be brought down by all possible means,” it said.
Former allies against IS
During the fight against IS, the US-led coalition and Iran-backed armed factions fought the same enemy, despite their broader geopolitical rivalry.
After IS lost its territorial strongholds, however, the continued presence of coalition troops became a major source of tension between the Iraqi government and the armed groups.
The factions demanded the withdrawal of US forces and launched drone and missile attacks against coalition positions. The United States responded with retaliatory strikes that killed several faction commanders over the years.
During the recent regional conflict in the Middle East, Iran and allied armed groups intensified attacks against US-led forces, including strikes targeting troops in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Residents in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, told AFP they are increasingly concerned about how they will be protected from drones that have repeatedly targeted the area once coalition air-defence capabilities are withdrawn.
The US-led coalition also completed its withdrawal from Syria earlier this year.
AFP
