US to pull air defences from Iraqi Kurdistan in September withdrawal

The United States will withdraw all its forces and air defence systems from Iraq by 30 September as planned, Iraqi government security adviser Qasim al-Araji said on Sunday.

Al-Araji said the US withdrawal from Iraq would include air defence systems stationed in the Kurdistan Region, including Patriot and C-RAM systems that have played a key role in intercepting Iranian drone and ballistic missile attacks.

Speaking to reporters in Baghdad, Al-Araji said US-led international coalition forces would leave Iraq completely by the end of September, in line with an agreement reached between Baghdad and Washington.

"On 30 September, coalition forces will withdraw completely from Iraq, and this is the implementation of the agreement between the previous government and the international coalition," he said.

Baghdad and Washington reached an agreement in September 2024 setting a deadline of the end of September 2026 for concluding the international coalition's mission against the Islamic State group (IS) in Iraq, following months of talks between the two sides.

Al-Araji said Prime Minister Ali al-Zaydi's government was proceeding with the agreement and that the US had expressed its readiness to withdraw by the agreed date.

He said the withdrawal would include all coalition air defence systems deployed in the Kurdistan Region, adding that the phased removal of troops and equipment had already begun.

The systems have served as an important security shield for the Kurdistan Region against repeated Iranian attacks.

A Kurdish official in Erbil separately told The New Arab that coalition forces would withdraw completely along with the air defence systems.

The official said the Kurdistan Regional Government had expressed concern that their removal could leave the region vulnerable to repeated Iranian attacks and potentially result in casualties.

The regional government had sought guarantees from Baghdad that Iranian attacks would not resume following the US withdrawal and that any renewed attacks would be stopped, the official said.

However, the official said neither the federal government nor the Kurdistan Regional Government currently had clear assessments of what the security situation would look like following the withdrawal.

Al-Araji also linked the withdrawal to efforts to bring weapons held by armed factions under state control.

"The issue of regulating weapons will be discussed after the coalition forces withdraw," he said. "A comprehensive mechanism will be agreed to place all weapons under state control."

He pointed to progress in talks between the Iraqi government and armed factions over the issue.

"The talks are going very well, and there is a positive understanding. The committee of the Coordination Framework, under the direct supervision of the prime minister, is continuing its work to resolve this issue," he said.

The comments come as several powerful Iran-aligned Iraqi factions resist government efforts to bring their weapons under state control, with some demanding the withdrawal of foreign forces as a condition for doing so.

Under the timetable agreed by Iraq and the United States, US forces are due to withdraw from their remaining bases and conclude their military mission in Iraq by 30 September 2026.

Despite the reduction in its military presence, the United States has said it will continue cooperating with Iraqi forces on training, intelligence sharing and counter-IS operations through bilateral arrangements that do not require a large-scale military presence.

No official figures have yet been released on how many US troops or other international coalition personnel have already left Iraq.

Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here.