Iraq celebrates as last US troops withdraw from country

Iraq celebrates as last US troops withdraw from country The US removed its last troops from Iraq on Wednesday, 23 years after Washington invaded the country to topple former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, in an intervention that cost over $1 trillion and led to hundreds of thousands of deaths over the last two decades.

"Today, the United States and our Coalition partners formally concluded Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq, consistent with the September 2024 US-Iraq joint statement and US national interests," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The US first occupied Iraq in 2003, following the overthrow of Hussein, before pulling out its forces in 2011.

They returned at the request of the Iraqi government in 2014 to tackle the spread of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, which had seized around a third of the country.

The US began withdrawing troops from Iraq in 2025, with soldiers relocating from Ain al-Asad base in Anbar Province and the Victory Base Complex, located within the Baghdad International Airport, to Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Iraqi Kurdistan was granted some semi-autonomy in 2005. For example, it has its own prime minister, president, and a separate security force, the Peshmerga.

Read more: Iraq celebrates as last US troops withdraw from country A member of the Iraqi security forces flashes the victory sign during a military parade marking the withdrawal of the US-led coalition from Iraq, in Baghdad, on 30 September 2026 (Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP)