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 neighboring 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 Irbil, 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 cooperation issues, not the counter-Daesh fight.
“Daesh 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 defense 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 air base 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 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.
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Pentagon says Iraq mission being scaled back
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Pentagon says Iraq mission being scaled back
- 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 says
Germany says UN rights rapporteur for Palestinian territories should quit
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday called for the resignation of the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, over comments she made allegedly targeting Israel at a conference.
“I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position,” Wadephul wrote on X.
Albanese has said that her comments are being falsely portrayed. She denounced what she called “completely false accusations” and “manipulation” of her words in an interview with broadcaster France 24 on Wednesday.
Speaking via videoconference at a forum in Doha on Saturday organized by the Al Jazeera network, Albanese referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticizing “most of the world” and much of Western media for enabling the “genocide” in Gaza.
“And this is a challenge — the fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support,” she said.
Albanese said that “international law has been stabbed in the heart” but added that there is an opportunity since “we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy.”
Wadephul’s French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday made the same call for Albanese to resign over the comments.
“France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrot told French lawmakers.
Albanese posted video of her comments to X on Monday, writing in the post that “the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it.”
In her interview with France 24, which was recorded before Barrot’s statement, she contended that her comments were being misrepresented.
“I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity’,” Albanese told the broadcaster.
“I respect the UN system of independent rapporteurs. However, Ms Albanese has made numerous inappropriate remarks in the past. I condemn her recent statements about Israel. She is untenable in her position,” Wadephul wrote on X.
Albanese has said that her comments are being falsely portrayed. She denounced what she called “completely false accusations” and “manipulation” of her words in an interview with broadcaster France 24 on Wednesday.
Speaking via videoconference at a forum in Doha on Saturday organized by the Al Jazeera network, Albanese referred to a “common enemy of humanity” after criticizing “most of the world” and much of Western media for enabling the “genocide” in Gaza.
“And this is a challenge — the fact that instead of stopping Israel, most of the world has armed, given Israel political excuses, political sheltering, economic and financial support,” she said.
Albanese said that “international law has been stabbed in the heart” but added that there is an opportunity since “we now see that we as a humanity have a common enemy.”
Wadephul’s French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday made the same call for Albanese to resign over the comments.
“France unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks made by Ms Francesca Albanese, which are directed not at the Israeli government, whose policies may be criticized, but at Israel as a people and as a nation, which is absolutely unacceptable,” Barrot told French lawmakers.
Albanese posted video of her comments to X on Monday, writing in the post that “the common enemy of humanity is THE SYSTEM that has enabled the genocide in Palestine, including the financial capital that funds it, the algorithms that obscure it and the weapons that enable it.”
In her interview with France 24, which was recorded before Barrot’s statement, she contended that her comments were being misrepresented.
“I have never, ever, ever said ‘Israel is the common enemy of humanity’,” Albanese told the broadcaster.
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