US begins withdrawing final troops from Erbil as patriot systems pulled from Iraqi base: Report

The United States has reportedly begun withdrawing its remaining troops from near Erbil International Airport in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, with Patriot air-defense systems already removed amid Iran’s precision retaliatory strikes.

The United States military has started drawing down its last remaining forces stationed near Erbil International Airport in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, according to sources cited by Al-Monitor.

The withdrawal began last week and is still underway, the sources said. They added that most US troops and heavy equipment have already left the military compound.

Patriot mobile air-defense systems, designed to intercept incoming missiles and drones, have already been removed from the base, the sources said, without providing further details.

"All" of the Patriot anti-missile batteries had been redeployed to an undisclosed destination, they said, while noting that other defensive weapons systems remained in place at the time of publication.

Regional officials described the move as routine and said it was consistent with Washington's commitment to withdraw all US forces from Iraq by the Sept. 30 deadline agreed with Baghdad.

The removal of the Patriot systems ahead of the troop withdrawal has also fueled questions about the US military's interceptor stockpiles and how it is prioritizing their deployment across West Asia.

"The Kurdistan Region is not a priority; the Gulf and Jordan clearly are," one source said on condition of anonymity.

The developments come as the United States resumed the war of aggression on Iran, prompting Iran to respond.

The US has been attacking Iran since earlier in July after Washington violated the terms of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which was meant to permanently end the war that the US and Israeli regime unleashed against Iran in late February.

The US attacks on southern Iranian provinces have been met with a strong response by Iran against US bases in regional countries as the Iranian Army and the IRGC launch multiple waves of Operation Nasr 2 and Operation Sa’eqeh, pounding US-run bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, and the Iraqi Kurdistan region, among others.

Several rounds of attacks on US assets in the Iraqi Kurdistan region have been announced by the Iranian armed forces. Last Friday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had destroyed a Patriot air-defense system, a US spy balloon and accommodation facilities used by American military personnel in Erbil.

US Army turns to older PAC-2 Patriot missiles as war against Iran drains stockpiles

The United States Army has been forced by Iran’s resolute resistance to procure outdated PAC-2 Patriot missiles for the first time in decades.

The latest withdrawal also comes amid concerns over the availability of US Patriot interceptors.

A study by the Washington-based Center for International and Strategic Studies said US Patriot resources have continued to decline following the collapse of the US-Iranian ceasefire and the subsequent breakdown of the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-June.

According to the report, an earlier assessment released in April found that 55% of US Patriot stockpiles had been depleted. The latest study said those numbers had fallen by another 10%.

The Foreign Policy Research Institute estimated in a separate report that the United States produces around 600 Patriot interceptors annually, adding that existing stockpiles had already been strained by transfers to Ukraine.

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