Iraq's government said Sunday that US forces have completed a "full withdrawal" from military facilities within the country's federal territory, which excludes the semiautonomous Kurdistan region where US troops remain.
Iraq's Defense Ministry said the final contingent of US advisers has leftal-Asad Air Basein Anbar province in western Iraq, which hosted US troops for more than two decades.
The US military has been drawing down for several years after the Iraqi government called for it do so in 2023.
The US-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group also withdrew from the Joint Operations Command headquarters, leaving the installations under the full control of Iraqi security forces, the ministry statement added.
US forces remain at Harir Air Base in Erbil province in the Kurdistan region. Iraq's central government does not fully control the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, which has its own government, parliament and security forces, as recognized by the Iraqi constitution.
The US military presence in Iraq has fluctuated greatly since the2003 invasion. At its height, the US had 170,000 troops in Iraq. In 2011, President Barack Obama withdrew US forces from the country. About 5,000 troops were deployed to Iraq in 2014 at the request of the Iraqi government, which sought US assistance in thefight against ISIS.
Since December 2021, when the US militaryannouncedthe end of its combat role in the country, the US has had roughly 2,500 troops in Iraq in an advise and assist capacity.
For nearly a decade, US forces fought a number of deadly battles across the country, beginning with the military campaign that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
According to the US Defense Department, 4,418 American service members died in Iraq between 2003 and 2012, including 3,481 killed in hostile action. An additional 31,994 were wounded during the same period.
The deadliest year for US forces was 2007, when 635 service members were killed at the height of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite communities.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry released a video Saturday showing senior Iraqi military commanders walking through empty halls and corridors inside al-Asad Air Base.
The US military's Central Command told CNN on Sunday that the Iraqi Defense Ministry's statement on the handover was "factual." It did not provide further details.
The withdrawal comes amid regional tensions between the US and Iran, after President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran amiddeadly street protestsagainst the country's authoritarian regime.
US forces stationed at al-Asad base have been attacked scores of times over the years by Iran and Iranian-backed groups.
In January 2020, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on US forces at al-Asad in retaliation for a drone strike at a Baghdad airport that killed a top Iranian military commander, Maj. Gen.Qasem Soleimani.The heavy bombardment lasted for around two hours, targeting only the US areas of the shared base.
Following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, Iranian-aligned militia groups in Iraq launched a series of rocket attacks on al-Asad. In August 2024, five US service members and two US contractors wereinjured in an attack.
Iraq said Sunday its armed forces across all branches possess sufficient capability to secure the country and that future cooperation with the US will center on training, equipment acquisition, joint exercises and operational coordination under bilateral agreements.
While Iraq considers the coalition mission concluded on its territory, officials noted that coalition operations against ISIS and other terrorist groups continue inSyria.Baghdad expects logistical support to transit through the coalition's air base in Erbil and did not rule out joint US-Iraqi counter-ISIS operations launched from al-Asad if necessary.
The US withdrawal may strengthen the government's position in negotiations over the disarmament of non-state armed groups, as some of Iranian-backed militias have cited the US presence to justify retaining their weapons.
Militias likeKataib HezbollahandHarakat al-Nujaba, among Iraq's most powerful armed groups and designated by the US as "terrorist entities," rejected disarmament. They said they would surrender their weapons only once Iraq achieves full sovereignty, including the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq.
There were no immediate comments from the militias regarding the announcement. Although many have formally integrated into the Popular Mobilization Forces, they remain influential actors in Iraq's security, political, and economic spheres.
CNN's Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.
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