US combat forces begin withdrawing from Iraq

BAGHDAD

The Iraqi army announced Thursday that US forces assigned to combat missions began to withdraw from the country.

"The withdrawal is taking place according to the plan developed by the Joint Operations Command and in coordination with the international coalition, which includes the stay of advisers to provide advice on many issues by exchanging intelligence information, training, arming and equipping, and their number will be at the discretion of the Iraqi military leadership and what the armed forces need," army spokesman Yahya Rasoul was quoted by the Iraqi News Agency.

"There is high coordination in the delivery of equipment, combat vehicles and weapons to the Iraqi armed forces, as well as the use of international coalition aircraft to target specific areas against Daesh terrorist gangs," he said.

Baghdad and Washington agreed in the fourth and final round of the strategic dialogue in July to withdraw US forces from Iraq by the end of 2021.

The US has led an international coalition since 2014 to fight the Daesh/ISIS terror group, which captured almost one-third of Iraq's territory in 2014.

The terror organization, however, was defeated by the Iraqi army, with the help of the US-led coalition, in 2017.

*Writing by Bassel Barakat in Ankara