US storing offensive weapons at Iraq's Ain al-Asad base in breach of 2021 agreement, military official says

The source told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he had seen weaponry including Black Hawk and Apache helicopters present during a recent visit to the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq by Iraqi military officials.

“This is contrary to the agreement concluded in 2021, which allowed the presence of defensive weapons with the advisory task force.”

The US and Iraq agreed in 2021 that all US combat troops would leave the country by the end of that year, and that the US role in Iraq would be limited to a training and advisory one. Some 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq for this purpose, according to Washington.

Eastern Syria has seen a surge in violence in recent weeks, with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) clashing with Arab tribes in the area.

The US has long backed the SDF, leading an international coalition that partnered with local forces including the SDF to fight the Islamic State group that swept through and seized through swathes of northern and eastern Syria in 2014.

Mahdi Taqi, a member of the Iraqi parliamentary committee on security and defence, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that official Iraqi reports had on multiple occasions found that bases hosting US and other foreign troops contain offensive weapons.