US to reduce troop presence in Iraq, focus shifts to Syria

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon recommitted itself in a statement on Tuesday to scaling back its military mission in Iraq, a process that a US official said will see Baghdad command efforts to combat remnants of Daesh inside its own country.

Under the plan, the US and its coalition allies would instead focus on combating Daesh remnants in Syria and shift most of their personnel to Iraq's Kurdistan region to carry out that mission, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The US had approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq at the start of 2025 and more than 900 in neighbouring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat Daesh as it rampaged through the two countries.

Once the transitions are completed, the total number of US forces in Iraq will number fewer than 2,000, and the majority of them will be in Erbil, the official said. A final number has yet to be determined, the official added, without offering a timeline.

US troops remaining in Baghdad will focus on normal bilateral security co-operation issues, not the counter-ISIS fight.

"ISIS is no longer posing a sustained threat to the government of Iraq or to the US homeland from Iraqi territory. This is a major achievement that enables us to transition more responsibly to Iraq leading efforts for security in their own country," a senior defence official said.

The agreement is a boost for the government in Baghdad, which has long worried that US troops can be a magnet for instability, frequently targeted by Iran-aligned groups.

The US agreed last year with Iraq to depart the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar province and hand it over to Iraq. The US official said that transition was still "in progress," and declined to offer further information.

Although the Trump administration has outlined plans for a drawdown in Syria as well, the official said that was conditions-based and "we remain in kind of a status quo situation" at the moment.

The US is concerned about the persistent presence of Daesh fighters in Syria, and the risk that thousands being held in prisons could be freed.

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda leader, led rebel forces that overthrew Bashar al-Assad's government last year. US President Donald Trump met him in Riyadh in May.

Middle East leaders and their Western allies have been warning that Daesh could exploit the political instability in Syria to stage a comeback there.