The US will not move forward with its plan to leave the Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq. President Joe Biden agreed to withdraw US forces from Iraq in September 2024. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced on Monday that between 250 and 350 American troops will remain at the base. He claimed they would help Baghdad fight the Islamic State. 

“These personnel will assist in surveillance and coordination with U.S. forces at the al-Tanf base in Syria to ensure that IS does not exploit the security vacuum,” he explained. 

In 2024, President Joe Biden agreed to draw down US forces in Iraq after pressure from Baghdad. The demand for an American withdrawal intensified after the US bombed Shia militia forces in Iraq. 

Tensions between the Shia militias in Iraq escalated throughout the first half of 2024. Rockets were fired at bases housing US soldiers in Iraq and Syria because of US support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza. 

An attack on the Tower 22 base in Jordan killed three American soldiers. Additionally, five US soldiers were wounded in a rocket attack on the Ain al-Asad Air Base.

The agreement called for a complete withdrawal of the 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq. Earlier this month, the Department of War said that it would only undergo a minor drawdown to under 2,000 troops. 

The US has continued to bomb Iraq, claiming that it is targeting ISIS. However, last year, a Biden administration official said ISIS had been “severely defeated.” “ISIS has definitely been severely defeated, certainly territorially defeated, and we want to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, but the threat does remain,” they said. 

Al-Sudani downplayed the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq after he announced the US troops were staying to fight the group. He stressed that ISIS “no longer poses a significant threat inside Iraq.”