Italy has completed the withdrawal of its remaining troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year deployment as the United States prepares to pull its forces out of their final bases in the country by 30 September.
Italy's defence ministry said on Tuesday that the last troops had left after Rome withdrew most of its personnel earlier this year. Italian forces had served in the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve against Islamic State and contributed to NATO's non-combat advisory mission in Iraq.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto described the withdrawal as a transition towards greater Iraqi responsibility for the country's security, according to the ministry statement reported by Reuters. Two Italian Carabinieri officers will remain in Iraq as part of the European Union Advisory Mission, EUAM Iraq, which operates with the consent of the Iraqi government.
Italy's withdrawal coincides with the final stage of a much larger American drawdown.
US forces are expected to leave their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, 30 September, completing a withdrawal agreed by Baghdad and Washington in 2024. Reuters reported that the departure will end the latest phase of a US military presence that began with the 2003 invasion, paused after American forces withdrew at the end of 2011 and resumed in 2014 when Islamic State seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.
The 2024 agreement set out a two-stage transition from the US-led coalition's military mission towards longer-term bilateral security relations. The Pentagon said at the time that coalition operations in Iraq would be reduced before a second phase allowed bases in the country to support operations against Islamic State in north-eastern Syria until at least September 2026, depending on conditions and consultations between the governments involved.
The Italian deployment that has now ended dated from 2014, when Rome joined the international campaign launched after Islamic State captured Mosul and other large areas of northern and western Iraq.
Italy also participated in NATO Mission Iraq, an advisory and capacity-building operation established at the Iraqi government's request. NATO says the mission is non-combat and is intended to strengthen Iraqi defence and security institutions rather than accompany Iraqi forces in combat.
NATO had already removed its personnel from Iraq in March 2026 because of the regional security situation. The alliance transferred its Iraq mission staff to Allied Joint Force Command Naples in Italy, from where the advisory mission has continued.
The approaching American departure has produced sharply different reactions inside Iraq.
Iran and Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups have portrayed the US withdrawal as a victory and an assertion of Iraqi sovereignty. Some Iraqi and Kurdish security officials, however, have warned that losing US intelligence, logistical support and surveillance capabilities could give Islamic State cells more room to reorganise. Those assessments remain disputed, and Iraq's government has increasingly emphasised the ability of its own forces to assume greater responsibility for national security.
US troops first entered Iraq in large numbers during the 2003 invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein. They withdrew in 2011 but returned less than three years later as part of the international campaign against Islamic State.
Italy's announcement and the scheduled US departure therefore close major Western military deployments associated with the anti-Islamic State coalition, although international security involvement in Iraq has not disappeared entirely. The EU advisory mission remains active, while NATO says its Iraq mission continues remotely from Naples.
