Antiwar.com’s Dave DeCamp reported that the US military is set to complete its withdrawal from its remaining bases in Iraq on Wednesday under a deal signed with the Iraqi government in 2024, ending the mission of the anti-ISIS coalition that began in 2014.
Over recent months, Antiwar.com said only a few hundred US troops remained in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region. The outlet also claimed the region has come under significant attacks by Iran and its allies since what it described as a US “war against Iran” that began on February 28.
Camp Victory: last personnel out, Al Jazeera reported
According to Antiwar.com, the US also maintained a small presence at Camp Victory in Baghdad. Citing on-the-ground reporting, Antiwar.com said Al Jazeera reported Tuesday that the last US military personnel had left the base.
What stays: the embassy—and the dollars
Antiwar.com wrote that the US will likely keep Marines or other military personnel at its embassy in Baghdad, which it described as the largest US diplomatic facility in the world. The outlet said it is unclear whether that presence will exceed a typical embassy security contingent.
Separately, Antiwar.com noted that while troops are leaving bases, Washington retains leverage because Iraq’s oil revenues—which Antiwar.com said account for about 90% of Baghdad’s budget—are deposited into an account belonging to Iraq’s central bank at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Militia reaction reported by Reuters
Reuters quoted Abu Mojtaba al-Yasiri, identified as a commander in the Islamic Resistance of Iraq (IRI), as saying the US exit is “a historic victory for the Iraqi Islamic resistance groups and honorable Iraqis, and a crushing defeat for the American project.” Reuters reported he added: “On September 30, we will celebrate the turning of a black page in Iraq’s history and the failure of the occupation to impose its will on our country. Iraq has proven that its sovereignty cannot be secured by foreign forces, but by the resistance and the will of its people.”
Shifting missions and disputed timelines
Antiwar.com reported that when the Biden administration signed the 2024 withdrawal deal, it said it was not pulling all forces and would shift from an anti-ISIS coalition to a “bilateral security partnership.” Antiwar.com also wrote that “the Trump administration” decided to proceed with a full withdrawal from US military bases in Iraq and sought the disarmament of Iran-aligned Shia militias. The outlet further attributed to someone it identified as Iraqi Prime Minister “Ali al-Zaidi” a statement last week setting a “new deadline” of June 30, 2027.
These details are presented as reported by Antiwar.com, Al Jazeera, and Reuters. Independent official confirmation is not included here.
