Two deadlines are looming for Iraq at the end of the month: the end of a decades-long U.S. military presence and the disarmament of non-state armed groups.
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deadlines → loom → groups
The U.S. withdrawal is underway, and officials say the hundreds of troops remaining in northern Iraq will be out by the September 30 deadline.
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hundreds → say → deadline
The Iraqi government has linked the U.S. withdrawal to an ultimatum for militias to lay down their weapons.
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militias → link → weapons
But most have indicated they have no plans to do so.
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they → indicate → plans
That leaves major questions about what the day after will look like in Iraq.
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day → leave → Iraq
Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have struck U.S.-linked targets both inside and outside of Iraq since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
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U.S. → back → February
They also have coordinated with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.
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They → coordinate → Arabia
With the war between the U.S. and Iran raging, Tehran is unlikely to give up the leverage it has in neighbouring Iraq.
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it → rag → Iraq
U.S. officials are concerned about the militias' ability to continue carrying out attacks — but not enough to delay their withdrawal.
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officials → continue → withdrawal
U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein.
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troops → invade → Hussein
They departed in 2011, but three years later, Iraqi authorities invited a smaller U.S.-led mission to fight the Islamic State group, which had rampaged across Iraq, seizing large swaths of territory.
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which → depart → territory
With the extremist group now reduced to scattered sleeper cells — a result of the intervention of Iran-backed militias as well as the U.S.-led coalition — Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind the mission down.
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Washington → reduce → mission
U.S. troops pulled out of bases in most areas of Iraq last year but maintained a presence in the semiautonomous northern Kurdish region.
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troops → pull → region
Bases there have regularly come under attack since the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran.
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U.S. → come → Iran
A U.S. military official said the withdrawal would be completed by September 30, and the hundreds of troops still present in northern Iraq would mostly be redeployed to Jordan and other countries in the region.
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hundreds → say → region
Military equipment, including air defence systems, will also be removed.
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equipment → include → systems
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly.
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he → speak → anonymity
A “normal bilateral security cooperation” agreement could then be negotiated with the central government in Baghdad, he said, but it remains unclear what form that would take.
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that → negotiate → form
The official said that the counterterrorism base in Irbil had lost its importance for U.S. troops with the Islamic State threat receding.
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threat → say → troops
During the war with Iran, northern Iraq for the most part did not serve as an “offensive platform,” but U.S. forces there were frequently targeted by Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias, so pulling troops out “will reduce our risk,” he said.
But the U.S. military remains concerned about the ability of the Iraqi militias to launch attacks on targets elsewhere in the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, and about the presence of Houthi rebel forces in Iraq, he said.
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he → serve → Iraq
In the past, the U.S. has sometimes struck militia sites in Iraq in retaliation for attacks.
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U.S. → strike → attacks
Washington has slapped sanctions on some of the groups and could impose more.
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Washington → slap → more
Iraqi government officials have waffled over whether September 30 is a hard deadline for disarmament of militias or merely the starting point for negotiations.
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September → waffle → negotiations
“There will be no disarming of any groups by the 30th of September,” said Iraqi analyst Sajad Jiyad, speaking at a panel convened by the Atlantic Center think tank last week.
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Jiyad → say → tank
“I think that’s probably clear to anybody who watches Iraqi politics.”
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who → think → politics
While a handful of less-influential militias have agreed to turn over their weapons, the most powerful groups — and closest to Iran — Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada have rejected the prospect or set conditions for disarming that they know the government is unlikely to meet in the near future.
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government → agree → future
Those include bringing the Kurdish peshmerga security forces in northern Iraq under control of the central government’s military and expelling Iranian Kurdish dissident groups and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, that have bases in the region.
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that → include → region
“After establishing these parameters, discussions will focus on regulating weapons, not surrendering them,” an official with one of the Iran-backed Iraqi militias said.
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official → establish → militias
“There is absolutely no decision among the factions to surrender weapons, and we have not surrendered any weapons.”
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we → be → weapons
A government official said the government’s strategy currently focuses on bringing armed factions under the control of the Iraqi military.
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strategy → say → military
Already, many of the militias are part of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, a coalition of armed groups that is officially part of the Iraqi armed forces, although the individual militias often act on their own.
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militias → act → own
The official said the government wants the armed factions to hand over “dynamic weapons”, including missiles and long-range aircraft, to the central leadership of the PMF and for the individual factions to be dissolved and placed under the command of the PMF and the Iraqi army.
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factions → say → PMF
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Iraqi government spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said last week that “discussions and dialogues are ongoing, and the file will be resolved after the withdrawal of the international coalition forces.
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file → speak → forces
While the withdrawal of U.S. troops removes one target from the Kurdish region, it may not halt the attacks.
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it → remove → attacks
Mohammed A. Salih, a non-resident senior fellow at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute and an expert on Kurdish and Iraqi affairs, noted that Iran and affiliated groups “have targeted other locations in the Kurdistan region that have not been related to the U.S. troops’ presence.
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that → note → presence
Those include the bases of exiled Iranian Kurdish dissident groups, energy facilities, and even the office of the Kurdish region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
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Those → include → Minister
“The withdrawal will expose the Kurdistan region even further and make it an even easier target,” Mr. Salih said.
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Salih → expose → region
Regional government officials declined to comment, but Barzani has publicly expressed anxiety that the removal of U.S. air defenses would leave the area more vulnerable.
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removal → decline → area
Numan said last week that the Iraqi government was close to procuring new air defence systems from South Korea, Turkiye and the U.S.
He told The Associated Press that the new systems “will be deployed according to carefully devised military plans to ensure the complete protection of Iraqi airspace, including the Kurdistan region.
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systems → say → region
The Aporia
