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.
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
Sweden wants to strip organized crime leaders of citizenship
- A bill submitted to parliament on Friday includes a proposal that would allow revoking passports of double citizenship holders convicted of “crimes”
STOCKHOLM: The Swedish government on Friday proposed changes to the constitution that would allow revoking the citizenship of some criminal gang leaders, as part of its work to combat widespread organized crime.
In January, a cross-party parliamentary committee proposed constitutional changes to allow stripping the passports of people with dual nationality convicted of espionage or treason, but stopped short of suggestions targeting organized crime.
“The government has chosen to go further than the committee’s proposal precisely to make it possible to also revoke citizenship from, for example, gang leaders who are guilty of very, very serious harm to society,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told a press conference.
He said a bill submitted to parliament on Friday includes a proposal that would allow revoking passports of double citizenship holders convicted of “crimes that gravely affect vital national interests” such as serious gang crime.
Sweden has been plagued by organized crime-related violence for well over a decade.
The government and its backers, the far-right and anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, won the 2022 election on a promise to reduce immigration and gang crime, which they say are linked. New general elections are due in 2026.
To change the Swedish constitution, the proposals need to pass a vote in parliament with a simple majority, followed by a general election and then a second Riksdag vote.
Strommer said he aims for the proposed changes to the constitution to enter into force at the start of 2027.
