US Led Coalition Withdraws To Iraq’s Kurdistan

 

On November 27 it was announced that the U.S. led Coalition against the Islamic State had ended its mission in federal Iraq. Only 4-5 personnel were left in Baghdad to do logistics and diplomatic tasks. The rest of the 1,500 Coalition troops were all now in Kurdistan. This is the first part of the Coalition’s withdrawal from Iraq.

 

At the start of January 2024 the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Sudani said that the U.S. led Coalition would end during his administration. That month the first round of talks were held to negotiate the foreign troops leaving.

 

That position changed when the Assad regime fell in Syria. By 2025 PM Sudani wanted U.S. forces to stay out of fear of a resurgent Islamic State in Syria that could spill over into Iraq. That delayed American soldiers pulling out of Ain Al-Asad airbase in Anbar which was supposed to happen in September. With no real insurgency re-emerging those forces were allowed to leave for Kurdistan.

 

In October the Pentagon said it would be scaling back its military mission in Iraq to focus upon Syria. It stated that the Islamic State was no longer a threat to Iraq.

 

The U.S. was initially slow to respond to the resurgence of the Islamic State in 2014 but eventually forged together an international coalition that came to the assistance of Iraq to fight the insurgency. It played a crucial role in arming, training, and providing firepower to eventually defeat the militants. This was especially true after Iran and its Hashd allies attempted and failed to take over the war with the 2015 Battle of Tikrit.

 

Still, Tehran won the information war. It was able to spread plenty of misinformation that the Coalition supported the insurgency and flooded Iraqi social media with images of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force commander General Qasim Suleimani as being the leader of the fight.

 

After 2017 when the Islamic State lost all its territory in the country Iran continued its campaign against the Americans proclaiming the Coalition’s presence as a new occupation.

 

Things were complicated in 2020 when Iraq’s parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling for the Coalition to withdraw. This was organized by Iran. That had no legal binding but many did not note the distinction. That led to claims that the U.S. and its allies were illegally in Iraq afterwards when they were not.

 

There was a military element to this campaign as well with the pro-Iran Resistance factions within the Hashd launching years of attacks upon Iraq bases that housed U.S. troops. Washington would occasionally respond with military strikes when its forces suffered casualties while Baghdad did little because these forces were not only part of the government but had the protection of Tehran.

 

This whole drama may finally be coming to an end next year.

 

SOURCES

 

Agence France Presse, “Iraq keeping a small contingent of US military advisers due to Daesh threat in Syria,” 10/20/25

 

Al Arabiya, “Pentagon says Iraq mission being scaled back,” 10/1/25

 

Chalak, Chenar, “Coalition mission will end during current cabinet: Iraqi govt spox,” Rudaw, 1/29/24

 

Lambeth, Benjamin, Airpower in the War Against ISIS, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2021

 

Rudaw, “US-led coalition ‘completes mission in Iraq, shifts forces to Kurdistan: Official,” 11/27/25