The US-led international coalition to fight ISIS will stay at Iraq's Ain Al Asad Airbase to support operations against the extremist group in neighbouring Syria, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani said on Monday.
Advisers will remain at the base during efforts to delegate responsibilities to local authorities and change the coalition's mission in line with a US-Iraqi agreement reached last year, Mr Al Sudani told media.
The agreement stipulates that troops must leave Ain Al Asad, as well as another base at Baghdad International Airport. They were supposed to have gone last month.
But the deal also says foreign troops will continue operating from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq until September 2026.
“The variable that changed after the agreement is the events in Syria,” Mr Al Sudani said during a meeting with foreign media outlets in Baghdad. The toppling of former Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad last December has prompted concerns that there may be resurgence of ISIS.
“To operate, manage and monitor some operations targeting ISIS on the Iraq-Syria borders as well as co-ordination with Al Tanf base, an agreement has been reached to maintain a unit of 250 to 350 advisers at Ain Al Asad,” Mr Al Sudani said, referring to another military facility in Syria.
He said that besides the American presence, the Ain Al Asad base “is under the control of the Iraqi security forces, especially the Iraqi army”.
Mr Al Sudani has visited the airbase in recent weeks and the nearby Horan Valley, which has served as a hideout for ISIS in the Iraqi desert.
He said the area is now “under the absolute control of our security forces, and there is no presence of ISIS”, adding that it was “previously inaccessible even to the international coalition”.
The process of transferring the tasks of coalition forces to local authorities at Ain Al Asad is “proceeding smoothly”, he said. The numbers of US troops at other Iraqi bases were also decreasing, the prime minister added.
Two rounds of talks have been held with the US on future security co-operation and a third is scheduled, Mr Al Sudani said, without giving details.
The US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS was formed in 2014 after the extremist group seized control of large areas of Syria and Iraq. What started as a “limited” US operation soon expanded to become a 77-nation coalition.
The coalition's military operations began with air strikes and widened to include advising and training Iraqi security troops.
The operation at one point reached 5,000 US and other foreign soldiers sent to train the Iraqi army. Eventually French, British and US special forces fought alongside Iraqis in major battles against ISIS.
Last year, the US spent an estimated $242 million on the effort to support Iraqi forces.
Mr Al Sudani has come under political pressure in Iraq to ensure the exit of US forces. Iraq has said the relationship with Washington will change to become a bilateral security partnership.
During its rise in late 2013, ISIS carried out dozens of car bombings a day. The group was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but sleeper cells still carry out attacks in both countries. The number of attacks has dropped in recent years, but with the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, some experts fear that violence from the group could increase again.
The coalition has often carried out strikes against ISIS officials in Idlib, in north-west Syria. Several senior figures in the group have been killed in the province.
In August, ISIS leader Salah Numan Al Jubouri, who was in charge of the group's financing, was killed in an operation by Iraqi troops, the US-led coalition and Syrian forces. He directed the movements of ISIS fighters between Syria and Iraq, sources told The National at the time.
Iraq is set to hold national elections on November 11, the country’s sixth poll since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The elections are expected to be closely contested among major religious and ethnic groups.
There is no expectation that the structure of the political system, which has been in place since 2003, will be changed radically by the vote. The election will probably amend the distribution of power and influence within the ruling structure.
Mr Al Sudani, who is seeking a second term in office, leads the Reconstruction and Development Coalition. It consists of several political groups, including the chairman of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, Falih Al Fayyadh, who is the subject of US sanctions. Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Ahmed Al Asadi, who leads the Kataib Jund Al Imam armed faction, is also part of the coalition.
Iran-backed armed factions are also seeking political influence after coming under pressure since the start of the Gaza war. They are either contesting the elections alone or within coalitions.
"Certainly, any military faction that transforms to political work is a step in the right direction," Mr Al Sudani said. "The deciding factor is the Iraqi voter who will vote for these options."
