US troops withdraw from Iraq after nearly two decades

The United States is set to withdraw its remaining troops from Iraq on Wednesday. In 2024, Iraq and the US had agreed to end the US-led coalition's military operation against the Islamic State.

Following that agreement, coalition troops vacated bases across the country and were confined to the northern Kurdistan region, from where the final withdrawal is now taking place. According to the BBC, this will mark the end of the US military presence that had continued since the 2003 invasion.

After Saddam Hussein was removed from power, Iraq was mired for years in insurgency and sectarian violence. The US withdrew its troops in 2011, but sent them back in 2014 after the Islamic State seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Although the group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, coalition forces remained in Iraq to continue operations against remaining members. According to the BBC, there were about 170,000 US troops in Iraq in 2007, a number that had fallen to about 2,400 by December 2023. According to news agencies, the US withdrawal was celebrated in the capital of neighbouring Iran, Tehran.