Trump makes moves to take all  troops out of Iraq and Syria

The U.S. plans to complete its military withdrawal from Iraq by September 2026, a U.S. official told RS.

The updated timeline, which the source said will likely coincide with a full withdrawal of NATO military advisers from the country, comes less than a week after Iraqi authorities officially took control of the last American base in federal Iraq. The official, citing operational security concerns, declined to disclose how many U.S. soldiers remain stationed at Harir Air Base in the country’s autonomous Kurdish region.

President Barack Obama had initially withdrawn U.S. combat troops in 2011, eight years after American forces invaded and toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. But Obama sent U.S. combat forces back into Iraq in 2014 under Operation Inherent Resolve, with the goal of helping to beat back ISIS.

With ISIS long defeated as a territorial entity, Iraqi officials have spent years publicly demanding a U.S. withdrawal. In 2024, Washington agreed to pull back its forces by the end of 2026, but it remained unclear whether it would stay committed to that timeline.

The news suggests that President Donald Trump is making progress on his long-standing goal of reducing America’s troop presence in the Middle East, where American soldiers have often served as a target for Iran-aligned militant groups.

Following the collapse of the Kurdish autonomous region in Syria, Trump may also be poised to begin a final withdrawal from Syria, as the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Given the increasing central authority of the government in Damascus, U.S. officials now see little reason to maintain their anti-ISIS mission in the country, which now involves roughly 1,000 U.S. soldiers stationed around Syria. Bolstering their desire to leave is the fact that two American soldiers were killed there during a patrol near Palmyra in December.

Plans for a full withdrawal from Iraq and Syria are unpopular among foreign policy hawks, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who claimed Thursday that “ISIS would love” it if the U.S. pulled out of Syria. But many of the soldiers who fought in the war on terror will likely see the move as a much-needed end to two decades of open conflict in the Middle East.

As Army veteran Brian Fay told RS in 2024, “there is no such thing as troops being able to stay in a combat zone and not be in some sort of life-threatening danger every single day.”

“After decades of lies, bloodshed and betrayal, I support a full withdrawal from Iraq,” said Army veteran Laura Hartman, adding that it’s now time to “focus on nation-building here at home.”