Iraq faces sovereignty test as US-led military coalition exit nears

The United States-led international military coalition will conclude its mission in Iraq by the end of this month, the country’s armed forces have confirmed to state media.

Lieutenant General Abdul Amir al-Shammari, director of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Monday, said September 30 is the date for the end of the mission of the international coalition forces in Iraq and the transition to a new chapter of relations and cooperation.

Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s security adviser, Qasim al-Araji, had confirmed that the US-led international military coalition would conclude its mission in the country this month.

Under a 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington, the withdrawal includes the removal of US air defence systems stationed in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq.

These platforms have been critical to the interception of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones targeting the region amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

US forces led the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which resulted in a bloody civil war in the country, with approximately 200,000 civilians killed in war-related violence. After withdrawing from Iraq in 2011, US forces returned in 2015, as part of an international coalition fighting the ISIL (ISIS) group.

“September 30 will be the fixed and final date for ending the military mission of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Iraq and completing the departure of its forces,” the prime minister’s office said.

“October 1 will mark a new day in the trajectory of the Iraqi state, as Iraq will be free of any foreign military presence … [The move] represents an essential prerequisite for moving Iraq into a new phase of development and prosperity.”