The United States has completed its withdrawal from al-Asad air base in Iraq’s Anbar province, ending more than 20 years of military presence in western Iraq, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said Saturday.
The ministry said Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah oversaw the transfer of control at the base. U.S. Central Command did not immediately comment on the handover.
The move follows a September 2024 agreement between Washington and Baghdad to end the U.S.-led coalition’s presence in Iraq, which had focused on countering the Islamic State. The two sides initially set a goal of completing the withdrawal by September 2025, but a small group of 250 to 350 American military advisers had continued operations at al-Asad due to security concerns related to Syria.
President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa held a phone call on Monday to discuss the situation in Syria and ongoing counterterrorism efforts, according to a statement posted by Damascus on X. Both leaders expressed support for Syria’s territorial unity and continued efforts against ISIS.
U.S. Central Command reaffirmed its coordination with Syrian partners. “We welcome ongoing efforts by all parties in Syria to prevent escalation and pursue resolution through dialogue,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, head of Central Command. “Aggressively pursuing ISIS and relentlessly applying military pressure requires teamwork among Syrian partners in coordination with U.S. and coalition forces. A Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors is essential to peace and stability across the region.”
Over the past month, U.S. and partner forces have conducted a series of large-scale strikes in Syria under Operation Hawkeye State. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation was launched in response to an ISIS attack in Palmyra on Dec. 13 that killed two American soldiers and one U.S. civilian interpreter.
U.S. troop levels in Iraq peaked at about 169,000 in August 2007, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Since the end of the U.S. combat mission in December 2021, approximately 2,500 American troops had remained across multiple sites in Iraq.
