US troops speed up withdrawal from Iraq

BAGHDAD - US forces have sped up withdrawal from Ayn al-Asad base and Victoria military base in Iraq, local media reported Sunday.

Some US troops are being redeployed to Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region in Iraq, and to a neighboring Arab country, Kurdistan24 reported.

The withdrawal order was issued by the US Embassy, with the process being carried out in phases, said the report, citing senior officials of the Iraqi government.

The move appeared to accelerate the previously agreed timeline for the drawdown of the US-led international coalition mission.

On Aug 17, Hussein Allawi, the security advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani, told the Iraqi News Agency that the mission of the US-led international coalition in Baghdad and at the Ayn al-Asad base will end in September.

Last September, Iraq and the United States reached an agreement outlining the coalition's gradual withdrawal from Iraqi territory.

The United States has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat the Islamic State as it rampaged through the country.