The Pentagon recommitted itself in a statement on Tuesday to scaling back its military mission in Iraq, a process that a U.S. official said will see Baghdad command efforts to combat remnants of the Islamic State group inside its own country.
Under the plan, the U.S. and its coalition allies would instead focus on combating remnants of the group 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 U.S. had approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq at the start of 2025 and more than 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat the Islamic State group as it rampaged through the two countries.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.