Wrapping up mission, US troops will leave some longstanding bases in Iraq under new deal

US army soldiers queue to board a plane to begin their journey home out of Iraq from the al-Asad Air Base west the capital Baghdad, on November 1, 2011. (AFP file photo)
US army soldiers queue to board a plane to begin their journey home out of Iraq from the al-Asad Air Base west the capital Baghdad, on November 1, 2011. (AFP file photo)
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Updated 28 September 2024
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Wrapping up mission, US troops will leave some longstanding bases in Iraq under new deal

Wrapping up mission, US troops will leave some longstanding bases in Iraq under new deal
  • Under the plan, all coalition forces would leave the Ain Al-Asad air base in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025

WASHINGTON: The US announced an agreement with the Iraqi government Friday to wrap up the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Daesh group by next year, with US troops departing some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country.
But the Biden administration refused to provide details on how many of the approximately 2,500 US troops still serving in Iraq will remain there or acknowledge it will mark a full withdrawal from the country.
“I think it’s fair to say that, you know, our footprint is going to be changing within the country,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday without providing specifics.
The announcement comes at a particularly contentious time for the Middle East, with escalating conflict between Israel and two Iranian-backed militant groups — Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza — threatening a broader regional war. Bases housing US forces and contractors have been regularly targeted by Iran-backed militias over the last several years, and those attacks intensified late last year and early this spring after the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly a year ago.
For years, Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of coalition forces, and formal talks to wind down the US presence in the country have been going on for months.
US officials who briefed reporters Friday said the agreement will bring about a two-phase transition in the troops assigned to Iraq that began this month. In the first phase, which runs through September 2025, the coalition mission against Daesh will end and forces will leave some longstanding bases.
Following the November election, American forces will start departing from Ain Al-Asad air base in western Iraq and from Baghdad International Airport, according to Iraqi government officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Those forces will be moved to Hareer base in Irbil, in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
In the second phase, the US will continue to operate in some fashion from Iraq through 2026 to support counter-Daesh operations in Syria, a senior Biden administration official and a senior defense official said on the condition of anonymity on a call with reporters to provide details ahead of the announcement.
Ultimately, the US military mission would transition to a bilateral security relationship, the US officials said, but they did not indicate what that might mean for the number of American troops who remain in Iraq in the future.
The Iraqi officials said some American troops may stay at Hareer base after 2026 because the Kurdistan regional government would like them to stay.
“We have taken an important step in resolving the issue of the international coalition to fight Daesh,” Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani said in a speech this month. He noted “the government’s belief in the capabilities of our security forces that defeated the remnants of Daesh.”
The continued presence of US troops has been a political vulnerability for Sudani, whose government is under increased influence from Iran. Iraq has long struggled to balance its ties with the US and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government but regional archenemies.
“We thank the government for its position to expel the international coalition forces,” Qais Khazali, founder of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq — an Iran-backed Iraqi Shia militia that has conducted attacks against US forces in Iraq — said last week.
But critics caution that this year’s surge of Daesh attacks in Syria across the desert border from Iraq suggest the drawdown in Iraq is a “really significant cause for concern,” said Charles Lister, a senior fellow with the Middle East Institute research center in Washington.
The US withdrawal from Iraq isn’t because Daesh has disappeared, Lister said. “The withdrawal is because there’s a significant proportion of the policy-making community in Baghdad that doesn’t want American troops on Iraqi soil.”
The agreement marks the third time in the last two decades that the US has announced a formal transition of the military’s role there.
The US invaded Iraq in March 2003 in what it called a massive “shock and awe” bombing campaign that lit up the skies, laid waste to large sections of the country and paved the way for American ground troops to converge on Baghdad. The invasion was based on what turned out to be faulty claims that Saddam Hussein had secretly stashed weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons never materialized.
The US presence grew to more than 170,000 troops at the peak of counterinsurgency operations in 2007. The Obama administration negotiated the drawdown of forces, and in December 2011, the final combat troops departed, leaving only a small number of military personnel behind to staff an office of security assistance and a detachment of Marines to guard the embassy compound.
In 2014, the rise of the Daesh group and its rapid capture of a wide swath across Iraq and Syria brought US and partner nation forces back at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help rebuild and retrain police and military units that had fallen apart and fled.
After Daesh lost its hold on the territory it once claimed, coalition military operations ended in 2021. An enduring US presence of about 2,500 troops stayed in Iraq to maintain training and conduct partnered counter-Daesh operations with Iraq’s military.
In the years since, the US has maintained that presence to pressure Iranian-backed militias active in Iraq and Syria. The presence of American forces in Iraq also makes it more difficult for Iran to move weapons across Iraq and Syria into Lebanon, for use by its proxies, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, against Israel.
 

 


Israel far-right minister demands end to Gaza ceasefire talks

Israel far-right minister demands end to Gaza ceasefire talks
Updated 3 sec ago
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Israel far-right minister demands end to Gaza ceasefire talks

Israel far-right minister demands end to Gaza ceasefire talks
  • Minister calls for ‘total siege, military crushing, encouraging emigration (of Palestinians outside of Gaza), and (Israeli) settlement’ in the Gaza Strip
  • Israel has been waging war on Hamas in Gaza for over 21 months, its troops gradually occupying more and more of the Palestinian territory
JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call back a delegation conducting indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I call on the Prime Minister to immediately recall the delegation that went to negotiate with the Hamas murderers in Doha,” Ben Gvir said in a post on X on the third day of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Instead, the minister who lives in a West Bank settlement called for “total siege, military crushing, encouraging emigration (of Palestinians outside of Gaza), and (Israeli) settlement” in the Gaza Strip.
He called these measures “the keys to total victory, not a reckless deal that would release thousands of terrorists and withdraw the (Israeli army) from areas captured with the blood of our soldiers.”
A Palestinian official close to the talks said on Tuesday that the talks were ongoing, with a focus on “the mechanisms for implementation, particularly the clauses related to withdrawal and humanitarian aid.”
Netanyahu traveled to Washington for his third visit since Trump’s return to power, where the US president on Monday voiced confidence that a deal could be reached.
The Israeli leader ruled out a full Palestinian state, insisting Israel would “always” keep security control over the Gaza Strip.
Israel has been waging war on Hamas in Gaza for over 21 months, its troops gradually occupying more and more of the Palestinian territory.
According to the UN, 82 percent of Gaza is now under Israeli military control or displacement orders.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The attack resulted in 1,219 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
Of the 251 people abducted that day, 49 are still hostages in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli army.
At least 57,523 Gazans, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The figures are deemed reliable by the UN.

South Sudan’s president fires army chief after seven months in post

South Sudan’s president fires army chief after seven months in post
Updated 08 July 2025
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South Sudan’s president fires army chief after seven months in post

South Sudan’s president fires army chief after seven months in post
  • No reason was given for the firing of army chief Paul Nang Majok

NAIROBI: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has fired the country’s army chief after seven months in the post and named a replacement, according to an announcement on state radio.
No reason was given for the firing of Paul Nang Majok in the announcement late on Monday. Majok had been in the post since December. The announcement said Kiir had appointed Dau Aturjong as the Chief of Defense Forces.
Majok was in charge of the army while fighting raged between the army and the White Army, an ethnic militia largely comprising Nuer youths, triggering the country’s latest political crisis.
“There has been a tradition that when you are appointed, or reassigned there are no reasons (given) for getting appointed and there are no reasons given for getting relieved. It is normal,” said Lul Ruai Koang, South Sudan army spokesperson.
South Sudan has been formally at peace since a 2018 deal ended the five-year conflict responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but violence between rival communities flares frequently.
In March, First Vice President Riek Machar was put under house arrest, stirring fears of renewed conflict.
Information Minister Michael Makuei said the arrest was due to Machar contacting his supporters and “agitating them to rebel against the government with the aim of disrupting peace so that elections are not held and South Sudan goes back to war.”
Machar’s party has previously denied government accusations that it backs the White Army, which clashed with the army in the northeastern town of Nasir in March. In May, South Sudan’s army said it had recaptured the town from the White Army.


Two killed in attack off Yemen as Houthis claim they sank Greek ship

Two killed in attack off Yemen as Houthis claim they sank Greek ship
Updated 08 July 2025
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Two killed in attack off Yemen as Houthis claim they sank Greek ship

Two killed in attack off Yemen as Houthis claim they sank Greek ship
  • The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C has 22 crew members and armed guards on board
  • Ship was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speedboats

ATHENS: Two crew members of the Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated, bulk carrier Eternity C were killed after an attack by sea drones and speedboats off Yemen on Monday evening, Liberia's shipping delegation told a meeting of the UN shipping agency IMO on Tuesday.

The deaths, the first since June 2024, bring the total number of seafarers killed in attacks on vessels in the Red Sea to six.

Monday’s attack 50 nautical miles southwest of the port of Hodeidah was the second strike against merchant vessels in the vital shipping corridor since November 2024, said an official at the European Union´s Operation Aspides, assigned to help protect Red Sea shipping.

The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C with 22 crew members – 21 Filipinos and one Russian – and armed guards on board, was attacked with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades fired from manned speedboats, sources said.

At least two crew members were seriously injured, its manager, Cosmoship Management, said. The vessel’s bridge was hit and telecommunications were impacted, a company official said.

Maritime security sources said the vessel, which was unladen, has suffered severe damage and is currently listing. The crew was ordered to abandon the ship, but the lifeboats had been destroyed, two sources said.

The ship was adrift, an Aspides official said. At the time of the incident, no warship of the Aspides mission was close to the vessel.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, so far.

Earlier on Monday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack on the Greek-operated MV Magic Seas bulk carrier off southwest Yemen. The raid involved gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades from eight skiffs as well as missiles and four uncrewed surface vessels.

The 19 crew were forced to abandon the Liberian-flagged vessel as it was taking on water. They were picked up by a passing ship and have arrived safely in Djibouti, sources said.

The Houthis said they sunk the vessel. But Michael Bodouroglou, a representative of Stem Shipping, one of the ship’s commercial managers, said there was no independent verification.

Growing operational risk

The crew had reported fires at the vessel’s forepeak, in the bow. The engine room and at least two holds were flooded, and there was no electricity.

Aspides had earlier warned of a risk of explosion in the ship’s vicinity.

Since Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October 2023, the Houthis have been attacking Israel and vessels in the Red Sea in what they say are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel has struck Houthi targets in response, launching strikes on Monday for the first time in nearly a month. A US-Houthi ceasefire deal in May did not include Israel.

The latest attacks highlight a growing operational risk to commercial operators whose vessels have called at Israeli ports, Maritime security firm Diaplous said.

Magic Seas was carrying iron and fertilizers from China to Turkiye, a voyage that appeared low-risk as it had nothing to do with Israel, Bodouroglou said, adding that Stem Shipping had received no warning of the attack.

But the fleet of Allseas Marine, Magic Seas’ other commercial manager, had made calls to Israeli ports over the past year, according to analysis by UK-based maritime risk management company Vanguard Tech.

“These factors put the Magic Seas at an extreme risk of being targeted,” said Ellie Shafik, head of intelligence with Vanguard Tech.

The manager of ETERNITY C is also affiliated with vessels that have made calls to Israeli ports, security sources said.

John Xylas, chairman of the dry bulk shipping association Intercargo, said the crew were “innocent people, simply doing their jobs, keeping global trade moving.”

“No one at sea should ever face such violence,” he said.


Gaza ceasefire can be reached but may take more time, Israeli officials say

Gaza ceasefire can be reached but may take more time, Israeli officials say
Updated 08 July 2025
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Gaza ceasefire can be reached but may take more time, Israeli officials say

Gaza ceasefire can be reached but may take more time, Israeli officials say
  • The ceasefire proposal envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely

JERUSALEM: Gaps in Gaza ceasefire talks under way in Qatar between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas can be bridged but it may take more than a few days to reach a deal, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.
The new push by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators to halt fighting in the battered enclave has gained pace since Sunday when the warring sides began indirect talks in Doha and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out to Washington.
Netanyahu met on Monday with US President Donald Trump, who said on the eve of their meeting that a ceasefire and hostage deal could be reached this week. The Israeli leader was scheduled to meet Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who played a major role in crafting the ceasefire proposal, will travel to Doha this week to join discussions there, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier on Monday.
The ceasefire proposal envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.
Hamas has long demanded an end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to end the fighting until all hostages are released and Hamas dismantled. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian sources said on Monday that there were gaps between the sides on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Senior Israeli officials briefing journalists in Washington, said it may take more than a few days to finalize agreements in Doha but they did not elaborate on the sticking points. Another Israeli official said progress had been made.
Israeli minister Zeev Elkin, who sits in Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said that there was “a substantial chance,” a ceasefire will be agreed. “Hamas wants to change a few central matters, it’s not simple, but there is progress,” he told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Tuesday.
The war began on October 7 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza.
Israel’s subsequent campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, sparked a humanitarian crisis in the enclave and left much of the territory in ruins.


Iran’s government says at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel

Iran’s government says at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel
Updated 08 July 2025
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Iran’s government says at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel

Iran’s government says at least 1,060 people were killed in the war with Israel
  • Iranian official warns the death toll may reach 1,100 given how severely some people were wounded

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Iran’s government has issued a new death toll for its war with Israel, saying at least 1,060 people were killed and warning that the figure could rise.

Saeed Ohadi, the head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, gave the figure in an interview aired by Iranian state television late Monday.

Ohadi warned the death toll may reach 1,100 given how severely some people were wounded.

During the war, Iran downplayed the effects of Israel’s 12-day bombardment of the country, which decimated its air defenses, destroyed military sites and damaged its nuclear facilities. Since a ceasefire took hold, Iran slowly has been acknowledging the breadth of the destruction, though it still has not said how much military materiel it lost.

The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has said 1,190 people were killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said.