Iraq says mission of anti-Daesh/ISIS coalition to end in September

ISTANBUL

Iraq said on Sunday that the mission of an international anti-Daesh/ISIS coalition will end this September, as efforts to build the government’s armed forces are ongoing.

Baghdad set a 12-month timeline with Washington in September 2024 to conclude the mission of the Global Coalition Against ISIS in Iraq.

“The coalition’s presence at its headquarters in Baghdad and at Ain al-Asad Air Base will officially end in September 2025, marking a new phase of security cooperation focused on advisory roles and capacity-building for Iraqi security forces,” Hussein Alawi, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, told the official news agency INA.

Alawi stressed the Iraqi government’s dedication to implementing its official agenda via building its armed forces, ending the coalition’s mission, and “transitioning security relations with coalition countries into stable bilateral defense partnerships governed by political, economic, and cultural ties.”

“The implementation of the agreement between Iraq and the coalition countries is moving steadily forward,” he said.

The Iraqi official noted that the second phase of concluding the coalition’s mission in Iraq is scheduled for September 2026.

The Global Coalition against Daesh is a US-led initiative formed in September 2014 with 89 partner states and institutions. The coalition aimed at the elimination of the terror group’s presence in Iraq and Syria.

The coalition’s military presence in Syria will continue until September 2026 to prevent a resurgence of the Daesh/ISIS threat in northeastern Syria.

The US currently maintains approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq as part of the mission.