The mission of the international coalition led by the United States against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in Iraq will come to an end “no later than the end of September 2025”, Washington and Baghdad announced in a joint statement on Friday, September 27.
The announcement comes after months of discussions between the United States and Iraq about the future of this alliance, created in 2014, which includes personnel from several countries, including France and the United Kingdom. The coalition will continue its operations in Syria.
The two parties agreed to a “transition plan in two phases”a US official said. The first will last until the end of September next year and will mean the “end of the presence of coalition forces in parts of Iraq”. “The second phase, between September 2025 and September 2026, refers to Kurdistan” Iraqi autonomous region located in the north of the country, declared Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbassi in early September.
The press release does not detail what will happen to the US troops deployed in Iraq, approximately 2,500 soldiers. “We are not going to talk about our plans for the location of specific bases or the number of military personnel.said a US defense official. We have been and will continue to be in contact with the Iraqi government about how our bilateral relations will evolve. »
Jihadist cells are still active
Negotiations on the future of the coalition began in the winter of 2023, to alleviate the repercussions of regional tensions in Iraq. The drone and rocket attacks, claimed by pro-Iranian armed groups, targeted the international coalition in Iraq, but also in Syria, in the context of the war in Gaza. In retaliation, the United States carried out deadly attacks against pro-Iran factions.
Iraq proclaimed its “victory” against ISIS in late 2017, but jihadist cells remain active in the country and continue to sporadically attack army and police personnel, particularly in rural and remote areas, outside of large cities.
To justify the coalition’s withdrawal, Baghdad claims that its security forces are now capable of leading the battle against IS alone, believing that the weakened jihadist group no longer represents the same threat as before.
