US forces withdraw from strategic airbase in Iraq’s Anbar, to officially hand it over next week

An Iraqi security source says a group of American troops, who are part of the US-led military coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, has pulled out of a strategic airbase in Iraq’s western province of Anbar and moved to another military site in the country.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency that the troops withdrew from al-Taqaddum Airbase, which lies at Habbaniyah district and approximately 74 kilometers (45 miles) west of the capital Baghdad, and moved to Ain al-Assad Air Base in the same Iraqi province.

Separately, Spokesman for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC), Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji, told the Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency that Iraqi government will officially assume the full responsibility of al-Taqaddum Airbase during a handover ceremony next week.

On Monday, the media office of the JOC said in a statement that the US-led military alliance had handed over another base in the country’s northern Nineveh province to the Ministry of Defense.

“As a result of fruitful dialogues between the Iraqi government and the international alliance, a site occupied by the International Alliance Mission and within a camp under the Nineveh Operations Command was returned to Iraqi forces after the coalition forces withdrew from it,” the statement read.

It added, “The move came in accordance with the coalition's commitment to return the sites it has been occupying within the Iraqi military bases and camps.”

The development came only a day after US-led coalition forces withdrew from K1 Air Base, which lies 15 kilometers (9 miles) northwest of Kirkuk, and submitted it to Iraqi forces during a ceremony.

Occupying US forces withdraw from K1 Air Base in northern Iraq, hand it over to Iraqi army

Occupying US forces in Iraq pull out from a strategic Air Base in northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk, and handed it over to the Arab country’s security forces.

Iraqi lawmakers unanimously approved a bill on January 5, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign military forces led by the United States from the country following the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) – better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi, and their companions in a US airstrike authorized by President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport two days earlier.

Iraqi lawmakers approve bill to expel US forces from country

The lawmakers, in line with their national and regulatory responsibilities, singed the four-point draft.

Later on January 9, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the former Iraqi prime minister, called on the United States to dispatch a delegation to Baghdad tasked with formulating a mechanism for the move.

According to a statement released by his office at the time, Abdul-Mahdi “requested that delegates be sent to Iraq to set the mechanisms to implement the parliament's decision for the secure withdrawal of (foreign) forces from Iraq” in a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Iraq wants US to set up mechanism for withdrawal of troops

Iraq

The 78-year-old politician said Iraq rejects any violation of its sovereignty, particularly the US military's violation of Iraqi airspace in the assassination airstrike.

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