Iraq and the US have signed a deal to transfer a diplomatic and logistics hub at Baghdad airport, Iraq's Foreign Ministry said early on Friday, as part of preparations for the full withdrawal of American forces.
The US charge d’affaires Steven Fagin and Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Hussein Bahr Al Uloom announced the deal “to hand over the Diplomatic Support Centre affiliated with the US embassy at Baghdad International Airport to the Iraqi government”.
Baghdad's Foreign Ministry hosted a ceremony to sign the agreement to transfer the hub.
The deal comes days before the remaining US-led coalition troops are set to withdraw by September 30 to end the coalition's military presence in Iraq. Coalition forces are now present only at Erbil airport after having withdrawn from other bases.
Mr Bahr Al Uloom said the handover has played a vital role in “transitioning a new phase of co-operation and partnership in a number of areas of mutual interest”.
Mr Fagin said: “Washington's support for the Iraqi government is based on efforts to develop relations between the two sides. It is based on the agreements and understandings reached between the two countries, in a manner that respects their sovereignty and opens new horizons for joint co-operation in the coming period.”
A deal was agreed upon between Iraq and the US in 2024 to end the coalition's mission against ISIS.
The airport has been repeatedly targeted by drone and rocket attacks this year after the eruption of the US-Iran war in February, to which Iran responded by targeting US military assets in the region.
For years, Iran-backed armed groups, which have long called for the withdrawal of foreign troops, have targeted US facilities and coalition forces in Iraq.
The US-led coalition arrived in Iraq in 2014 at the invitation of the Iraqi government to fight against ISIS, which at the time was advancing across the country and in neighbouring Syria. The Diplomatic Support Centre was a diplomatic and logistics facility located on the west side of the airport. It was previously part of the US Victory Base military installation, before being repurposed as a diplomatic support hub during the US troops’ withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi said that September 30 is the firm deadline for ending the US-led coalition's military mission in Iraq and completing its troop withdrawal. He has also pledged to reinforce the state’s monopoly on arms and ensure that armed factions hand over their weapons to the state. The initial deadline for disarmament was tied to the US troop departure. Mr Al Zaidi said this week that the process would be completed by next June.
Officials in Baghdad have said that ending the coalition’s mission removes a key justification used by those militias to keep their weapons.
Mr Al Zaidi has described the day after October 1 as a new phase for Iraq, a country that is free of foreign military presence.
