The last American troops at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad Air Base have left after a months-long drawdown, Iraq’s defense ministry announced on Saturday.
In a statement, the ministry said that Iraq’s army fully took control of the major base in the country’s western Anbar Province. Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah was on hand for the final withdrawal. The withdrawal marks the final part of a drawdown that got extended this past fall due to concerns of a “security vacuum” in Syria.
The United States and Iraq had signed an agreement for Americans to leave bases in Anbar and Baghdad, with the plan calling for a full withdrawal by the end of September 2025. Local media reported that Americans began leaving al-Asad at the start of August. However in October, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said that a “small force” of 250-350 Americans would stay in the base, citing concerns over the changing situation in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024.
U.S. Central Command confirmed to Task & Purpose that American forces had led the base but did not provide additional details.
Top Stories This Week
In late November, the head of Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, which coordinated the fight against ISIS with international forces, said that the coalition had completed its mission in the federal areas of Iraq. Approximately 1,500 foreign troops, including Americans, had relocated to Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the Kurdish news outlet Rudaw. It’s unclear how many international personnel are there currently.
The base is a major military installation in the western Anbar Province. An Iraqi base, it was heavily used by coalition forces during the Iraq War and during the fight against ISIS. American forces used it as a staging ground for anti-ISIS raids, which often took place in western Iraq and eastern Syria. The withdrawal from Anbar and consolidation of coalition forces to Erbil is part of a wider regional drawdown. U.S. troops handed over Syrian outposts to partner groups, such as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
al-Asad Air base also was targeted repeatedly by rocket attacks over the last decade. In 2020, Iran fired missiles at the base in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani. More than 100 American service members suffered traumatic brain injuries from the January 2020 barrage. The base was targeted again in 2024, when anti-American militias fired rockets at it as part of wider unrest in the Middle East.
