The US announced an Friday to wrap up the military mission in Iraq of an American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group by next year, with US troops departing some bases that they have long occupied during a two-decade-long military presence in the country. ADVERTISEMENT But the Biden administration refused to provide details on how many of the approximately 2,500 US troops still serving in Iraq will remain there or acknowledge it will mark a full withdrawal from the country. 'I think it's fair to say that, you know, our footprint is going to be changing within the country,' Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday without providing specifics.
The announcement comes at a particularly contentious time for the Middle East, with escalating conflict between Israel and two Iranian-backed militant groups ' Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza ' threatening a broader regional war. Bases housing US forces and contractors have been over the last several years, and those attacks intensified late last year and early this spring after the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly a year ago. For years, Iraqi officials have periodically called for a withdrawal of coalition forces, and formal talks to wind down the US presence in the country have been going on for months.
US officials who briefed reporters Friday said the agreement will bring about a two-phase transition in the troops assigned to Iraq that began this month. In the first phase, which runs throu.
