The US military concludes its 12-year involvement in Iraq combating ISIS.
The 12-year effort to combat, the Islamic state organization came to an end on Wednesday, when the US military declared that all of its forces had left Iraq.
American soldiers finally departed an air base in northern Iraq, according to an agreement between Baghdad and Washington.
30 deadline for the withdrawal of US forces with the unconditional disarmament of non-state armed groups by that date. The Peshmerga Ministry of the Kurdish regional government said that their region has been hit by more than 1,000 drone and ballistic-missile attacks during the recent US-Iran conflict.
US personnel and equipment have completed a “orderly departure” from the air base in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous Kurdish area of northern Iraq, according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. The US withdrawal marked the start of a “new phase, one defined by Iraq’s sovereignty, the strength of its institutions, the readiness of its forces, the unity of its decision-making, and balanced partnerships with its friends,” according to Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who oversaw the handover ceremony. The government would make sure that non-state organizations no longer possess weapons, and Iraqi security forces will carry on the battle against IS, according to him.
Iran-backed organizations also applauded the evacuation, while some other Iraqis, especially those in the Kurdish area, expressed alarm. The future of the Iraqi militias, which the Baghdad government has attempted to disarm with limited success thus far, is a matter of concern. Iraq government first linked up the Sept. the big groups aligned with Iran either dismissed the idea or put up conditions that the government would be unlikely to agree for the meeting While a few less influential of the militias agreed to turn in their weapons.