The Iraqi army announced today, Thursday, that the US forces assigned to combat missions have started withdrawing from the country, and the process is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

This came in a statement by the spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Major General Yahya Rasoul, reported by the official Iraqi News Agency.

Rasoul said that US forces assigned to combat missions have begun withdrawing from the country, and that there is an ongoing effort to complete the entire withdrawal process by December 31.

He explained that the withdrawal is taking place according to the plan between the Joint Operations Command (of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense) and the international coalition led by Washington, which includes the continuation of the exchange of intelligence information, training, arming and equipment between the two sides.

Baghdad and Washington agreed, in the last session of their strategic dialogue, to withdraw US forces from Iraq (European)

The spokesman added that a number of American advisers (not identified) will be located in camps in Iraq, and their protection will fall on the shoulders of the Iraqi forces, without additional details.

He added that there is coordination in the delivery of equipment, combat vehicles and weapons to the Iraqi armed forces, as well as the use of international coalition aircraft to target ISIS gangs in several areas.

Last July, Baghdad and Washington agreed, in the fourth and final round of the strategic dialogue, to withdraw all US combat forces from Iraq by the end of this year 2021.

A joint statement made it clear at the time that the security relationship between the two countries would move entirely to advice, training and intelligence cooperation, and there would be no presence of US combat forces in Iraq.

Since 2014, Washington has led an international coalition to combat the Islamic State, which occupied a third of the area of ​​Iraq at the time, and deployed about 3,000 soldiers to the coalition, including 2,500 Americans, before that coalition was able to expel the organization from most of the areas it controlled.