NATO has temporarily withdrawn its mission from Iraq and pulled out its personnel amid continued attacks on US-linked diplomatic and military facilities, AFP reported on 20 March.
Security officials told AFP that the majority of NATO personnel left the Union III base in central Baghdad on Friday.
“I would like to thank the Republic of Iraq and all the Allies who assisted in the safe relocation of NATO personnel from Iraq,” US Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), said in a statement.
The Union III base is located near the US Embassy, which has come under repeated rocket and drone attacks in recent weeks from Iraqi resistance groups enjoying backing from Iran.
NATO told AFP that it was not withdrawing its personnel due to any dispute with the Iraqi government.
The NATO mission in Iraq provides advisory and training support to Iraqi security forces and does not have a combat role.
Armed groups known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have also targeted US bases and personnel with drone strikes in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan autonomous region in northern Iraq. Iran has struck bases of Kurdish Iranian groups in the Kurdistan region amid reports they plan to invade Iran with US assistance.
Since launching a war on Iran alongside Israel three weeks ago, US forces have killed 160 members of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in airstrikes in various sites across Iraq.
The PMU is part of Iraq’s official government security forces but overlaps with Islamic resistance groups, who are backed by Iran.
An Iraqi security source told Al Mayadeen on Friday that all Italian NATO troops stationed in Iraq have fled to Jordan due to the operations of the Islamic Resistance.
The resistance issued a statement saying it continues its military operations against “enemy bases in Iraq and the region, in fulfillment of its religious duty and in retaliation for the blood of the martyred leader, Sayyid Ali al-Husseini Khamenei, and to deter the aggression that led to the martyrdom of a group of young Iraqi resistance fighters.”
In response to reports that NATO was withdrawing its forces, a spokesperson for the alliance issued a statement later on Friday saying that it was “adjusting” the posture of its mission in Iraq.
“We can confirm that we are adjusting our posture in the context of NATO Mission Iraq. We are working in close coordination with Allies and partners,” NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said in an email to Reuters.