US announces end of coalition mission in Iraq after Erbil withdrawal

The US and its coalition partners have removed their remaining troops and military equipment from Erbil’s airbase, formally closing “Operation Inherent Resolve” in Iraq, the Pentagon says. Chief spokesman Sean Parnell described the departure as “the success of a 12-year campaign” against ISIL (ISIS). Iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will take responsibility for security and keeping the armed group “suppressed”, he said. Parnell called the handover “a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort”.