Shafaq News- Erbil
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Wednesday it completed the withdrawal of US forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, ending the Operation Inherent Resolve* mission in Iraq.
The withdrawal is part of a planned transition to a bilateral defense relationship between the United States and Iraq, CENTCOM said.
Located in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq, the base served as Combined Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR)'s main operational hub. It hosted most of the 1,500 American and Coalition troops supporting counter-ISIS operations, according to CENTCOM.
The Erbil departure completes a process that began in October 2025, when American and Coalition forces started leaving federal Iraq, the areas governed directly by Baghdad outside the Kurdistan Region.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, said ISIS "no longer poses a systemic threat to Iraq's national security." Iraqi security forces, including the Peshmerga, the Kurdistan Region's armed forces, now have the capacity, leadership and operational independence to manage threats to the country on their own, he said.
With primary responsibility for Iraq's security now handed to the Iraqi government, US and Coalition forces stationed across the region will remain ready to respond to any ISIS threat, Cooper said.
CJTF-OIR remains operational and is now headquartered in Jordan, according to CENTCOM, and US forces will continue the counter-ISIS mission in Syria alongside Coalition partners and the Syrian government.
*Operation Inherent Resolve is the US-led military campaign against ISIS, and its command, the CJTF-OIR, has advised, assisted, and enabled forces fighting the group in Iraq since CENTCOM established it in 2014.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 30, 2026