A "small force" of US troops will remain at Iraq's Ain al-Asad [8] air base in order to fight ISIS, the Baghdad government announced Oct. 20. The decision reverses plans for a full withdrawal of US forces from the base. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani [9] said that a force of up to 350 Pentagon advisors and support personnel would stay at the base in western Iraq, as well as al-Harir [10] base in Iraqi Kurdistan. Other bases are seeing are seeing "gradual reductions" in US troops, according to the Associated Press [13].
"These personnel will assist in surveillance and coordination with US forces at the al-Tanf base in Syria to ensure that IS does not exploit the security vacuum," al-Sudani said, according to Kurdistan24 [14]. Al-Tanf [15], in southeastern Syria, is the main US outpost in that country.
The announcement that US troops will remain at Ain al-Asad represents a reversal of plans for a full withdrawal [16] initially slated to be completed by last month. US Central Command only acknowledged [17] that the withdrawal was underway in late September, pointing to a change in plans.
The decision to allow the US troops to stay was made in response to "developments in Syria," al-Sudani said. This presumably refers to the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, after the draw-down agreement between the US and Iraq was reached. The initial plan, reached last fall, would have brought [17] the number of US troops inside Iraq from 2,500 to fewer than 2,000, with most based in the Kurdistan region. (Task & Purpose [11])
