All US forces to withdraw from Iraq by Sept. 30: al-Zaidi

WASHINGTON — All remaining US military forces will be out of Iraq by the end of September, the nation’s new prime minister Ali al-Zaidi said during a Tuesday visit to the White House.

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“On the 30th of September, the US forces will be out of Iraq, while these companies will be inside Iraq,” al-Zaidi said through a translator when speaking to reporters alongside President Trump in the Oval Office.

About 2,000 US troops currently are stationed in Iraq, mostly at the Harir Air Base in Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region.

Washington and Baghdad agreed in September 2024 to a phased withdrawal of US forces who had remained to support counter-Islamic State (ISIS) operations at the request of the Kurdish regional government.

Trump withdrew US troops in April from Syria, where they also helped crush the jihadist caliphate, which once claimed vast territories in the two countries.

A similar US troop withdrawal from Iraq occurred in 2011 under then-President Barack Obama — whose administration then funded an anti-government insurgency in Syria, setting the stage for the rise of ISIS and other radical groups.

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The current withdrawal reflects a shift in US focus after Trump forged a partnership with Syria’s ex-al Qaeda president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom he has credited with imposing stability over his nation.

The withdrawal comes amid the US-led war with Iran, which resumed last week as a less than month-old memorandum of understanding collapsed due to Tehran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump showered al-Zaidi with praise during his visit, announcing the men would have an unplanned lunch and predicting the “handsome” new leader, 41, would serve as a long-term leader with significant influence in the region.

The US has many other military bases in the Middle East, including the 10,000-man Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the similarly sized Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and the headquarters for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

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