Iraq's military command: no foreign troops will remain after September 30
As International Coalition forces continue withdrawing from Hewlêr, Baghdad has announced the pullout will be completed on September 30, with the coalition's headquarters set to close in an official ceremony. A "Sovereignty Conference" will follow on October 1.
RastinewsA spokesman for Iraqi Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Ali Zeydi's office, Sabah Numan, told Rûdaw that coalition forces are in the final stages of withdrawal, laying out the timeline for the pullout, the ceremony marking the headquarters' closure, and the conference that will follow.
Withdrawal from Hewlêr continues
Numan said the United States and coalition forces are currently in the process of withdrawing from the Kurdistan Region.
"Coalition forces are withdrawing from Erbil in coordination with the Office of the Iraqi Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief," Numan said.
He gave a firm date for the withdrawal's completion. "This withdrawal will be completed on September 30. A major ceremony will be held in Baghdad to mark the end of the International Coalition's mission in Iraq," he said.
Asked whether the withdrawal covers all forces in Hewlêr, Numan said the decision applies to the coalition as a whole. "After September 30, not a single foreign soldier will remain anywhere in Iraq," he said.
Ceremony and "Sovereignty Conference" in Baghdad
Numan said the ceremony declaring the end of the coalition's mission will take place under the direct oversight of Iraq's prime minister and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
"The ceremony will be held at the Office of the Commander-in-Chief. It marks the end of the international coalition's mission and the official closure of the coalition's headquarters," he said.
Numan said a "Sovereignty Conference" will follow under the prime minister's oversight, scheduled for October 1, with formal invitations to be sent to all political leaders and political forces across Iraq.
"This will be a major celebratory conference marking the end of the mission and the full restoration of sovereignty," Numan said.
A withdrawal split into two phases
The September 30 date was set following talks between Baghdad and Washington's Higher Military Committee on ending the coalition's military mission in Iraq and handing bases over to Iraqi security forces.
Iraq and the United States agreed in a joint statement in September 2024 to end the coalition's mission in two phases. Under that agreement, the coalition withdrew from bases in Baghdad and federal Iraq by September 2025, while maintaining a presence in the Kurdistan Region until September 2026 to support anti-ISIS operations in Syria.
The coalition was formed under U.S. leadership after ISIS seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014, and its presence in Hewlêr became one of the central hubs of joint operations with the Peshmerga during that period.