Pentagon Ends Iraq-Based Anti-ISIS Mission as U.S. Leaves Erbil Air Base
The U.S. military declared an end Wednesday to its Iraq-based anti-ISIS operation, saying U.S.-led coalition forces and equipment had completed their withdrawal from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq under an agreement reached earlier with Baghdad.
“The orderly departure of Coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base marks the successful conclusion of the military mission that defeated ISIS in Iraq,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement. “This milestone reflects the success of a 12-year campaign that defeated ISIS as an organized military threat in Iraq and across the region. It also marks a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.”
The announcement closes a mission that began in 2014, when the United States launched Operation Inherent Resolve to roll back ISIS. The group grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq and seized vast stretches of Iraq and neighboring Syria, at one point declaring a self-styled caliphate and drawing a U.S.-led coalition into a years-long campaign.
About 2,000 U.S. personnel were in Iraq as of February, officials said at the time. That is a fraction of the more than 160,000 U.S. service members deployed during the late-2000s troop surge under Operation Iraqi Freedom, the earlier mission that toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and sought to stabilize the country amid a protracted civil war.
U.S. troops served in both Iraq and Syria as part of the anti-ISIS mission. The roughly 1,500 troops stationed in Syria for years withdrew earlier this year.
The end of the mission was set in motion several years ago under a U.S.-Iraqi plan that called for a transition to a more bilateral security relationship. In a 2024 joint agreement, the two countries announced that the multinational coalition to defeat ISIS would end by 2025, with the Inherent Resolve mission expected to conclude by the end of 2026.
The campaign pushed ISIS out of significant territory, but it did not eliminate the group. In December 2025, two U.S. soldiers and a translator were killed in an ISIS attack, according to U.S. Central Command. The United States retaliated with airstrikes.
American troops have also been targeted in recent years by Iranian-backed militias inside Iraq, a threat that has become more pronounced since the United States and Israel jointly launched the ongoing war against Iran. According to the Pentagon, militias affiliated with Iran launched more than 600 attacks against U.S. citizens and facilities between February and April 2026.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed those attacks in a July meeting at the Pentagon with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, according to a Pentagon readout. They discussed the transition from the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS to a bilateral relationship, and Hegseth committed to ending Inherent Resolve by Sept. 30, the readout said.
Al-Zaidi has promised to disarm the Iran-backed militias in Iraq. He told The New York Times this week that the groups are expected to be disbanded by June 2027, after an initial September 2026 deadline.
The handoff leaves Baghdad with primary responsibility for a still-volatile security file. Iraq’s security forces will need to contain ISIS remnants while managing militias that have long operated with varying degrees of autonomy from the state — a balancing act that carries risks for both Iraqi sovereignty and U.S. influence.
“We expect the Iraqi Security Forces, including the Peshmerga [Kurdish forces] and other security forces in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, to lead the continuing effort to secure Iraq and keep ISIS remnants suppressed,” Parnell said in his Wednesday morning statement, adding that the U.S. military would “continue to provide targeted training and intelligence support to our Iraqi partners.”
“The primary responsibility for addressing Iraq’s remaining security challenges, including ISIS remnants and Iran-aligned militias that undermine Iraqi sovereignty and regional stability, now rests with the Government of Iraq,” he said. “The United States remains committed to counterterrorism and will continue to work with Iraq and our partners to ensure ISIS can never reconstitute from Iraqi territory.”