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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Global Coalition to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) on Sunday officially departed Taji military base, transferring $347 million in equipment and property to Iraq in the latest of base transfers.
"This is truly a historic day,” said Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman, deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, according to a statement circulated by the coalition.
“For the past six years, Camp Taji has served as a primary installation for Coalition partners to train the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Air Force, and the Qwat al-Khasah (Special Forces).”
“From this day forward, the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] will take full responsibility for the facilities and programs at Taji and continue to use the site to lead and conduct training as part of the mission to defeat Daesh remnants,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
"The Coalition transferred $347 million in equipment and property to the Government of Iraq. This was the highest dollar figure of any base transfer," according to the statement.
The base is located north of Baghdad.
The transfer came a week after the coalition handed over Taji's ammunition facility to the Iraqi forces.
In recent months, the coalition has withdrawn from several Iraqi bases and repositioned troops after successes in the campaign to defeat ISIS and to protect personnel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the eighth base to be transferred to Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) this year, according to the statement.
The remaining coalition troops will "depart Taji after completion of equipment transfers to the ISF in the coming days."
The majority of coalition troops departed the base earlier this summer.
Taji has been targeted in a number of rocket attacks said to be by Iran-linked groups.
Two Americans and one Briton were killed in a rocket attack on the base in March.
Baghdad invited the US-led international coalition to intervene in Iraq in 2014 as ISIS seized control of vast areas of northern Iraq and neighbouring Syria. Some 7,500 foreign troops formed part of the 81-country coalition; over 5,000 of them were American.
But with ISIS territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, US military presence in the country has met increasing opposition, particularly from Iran-backed militias and political parties.
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