After 12 Years, Iraq Closes the Chapter on the International Coalition Against “ISIS”

Al-Taj News – The US-led international coalition against the terrorist organization “ISIS” ends its mission in Iraq on Wednesday, 12 years after it was launched, while Baghdad affirms that its security forces are now capable of confronting threats, coinciding with the transition of Iraq’s relationship with coalition countries to bilateral security partnerships. This comes within the framework of the scheduled date for ending the mission on September 30 and moving to a new phase of bilateral cooperation.

Coalition forces were deployed in Iraq and Syria in 2014 to confront the terrorist Islamic State organization, known as “ISIS,” after it seized large areas of the two countries, before its defeat was declared in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019.

Despite the organization losing the areas it had controlled, coalition forces remained present to confront its remaining cells, before the gradual withdrawal from Iraq began under an agreement reached by Baghdad and Washington in 2024.

By the beginning of this year, the presence of coalition forces in Iraq had been limited to the Kurdistan Region in the north of the country, with their withdrawal to be completed on Wednesday.

Iraqi Ministry of Defense spokesperson Major General Yahya Rasoul said in a statement to Al-Iraqiya News, carried by the Iraqi News Agency, that “no member of the international coalition will be present after September 30, and there is no soldier from the international coalition inside Iraq,” adding that “the withdrawal of the international coalition is the result of a major effort made by Iraq.”