SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq’s national security advisor Qasem al-Araji said on Thursday the U.S.-led Coalition forces had ended their combat mission in the country.
Araji said in a tweet that the combat mission had ended on schedule ahead of the end of the year.
He further said the Coalition’s combat troops were to withdraw.
The members of the Coalition “will be present at the invitation of the Iraqi government to provide advice, assistance and empowerment to the Iraqi forces, and their presence is exclusively in accordance with the Iraqi sovereignty and international laws and norms”, state news agency quoted him as saying.
In July, U.S. President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement to formally end the combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021.
The United States has kept around 2,500 troops in Iraq since 2020.
Western officials say most of those forces have been operating only in a training and advising role for some time, according to Reuters.
The U.S.-led military mission focuses on countering the remnants of Islamic State. It began its mission in 2014 as part of an international effort to defeat the extremist group which had taken over vast areas of Iraq and Syria.
