US, Iraqi troops pull out of base near Iraq's Sinjar, Syrian border

However, Iraqi and Coalition officials made clear the troops were based in southern Shingal to support operations of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria attempting to clear border regions from IS.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US troops near the Syrian border, a few kilometers south of Sinjar (Shingal), have pulled out of the area after being positioned there to support a cross-border anti-Islamic State (IS) operation for more than a month.

“There are no more Coalition troops in Um Jorais,” Thomas Veale, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

The troops were seen traveling through Shingal in June, leading some among the local Yezidi (Ezidi) community to believe the US would establish a permanent presence to protect them from future threats.

However, Iraqi and Coalition officials made clear the troops were based in southern Shingal to support operations of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria attempting to clear border regions from IS.

“Fire Support Base Um Jorais, a temporary artillery position, was established June 1 by Iraqi and Coalition artillery units to support ground forces in Operation Roundup, the campaign to accelerate the defeat of Daesh remnants,” the Coalition said in a statement received by Kurdistan 24.

Moreover, Iraqi Air Force F-16 fighters supported SDF operations with cross-border strikes on IS targets in Syria.

On May 1, the Kurdish-led SDF relaunched operations against IS members in Deir al-Zour province, near the border with Iraq, after a brief pause due to attacks by Turkey on the Kurdish enclave of Afrin.

“Our forces aim to secure the Syrian-Iraqi borders and drive out Daesh [IS] from the area,” Lilwa al-Abdallah, a spokesperson for the offensive, previously told Kurdistan 24, following the launch of the operation.

Troops at the base provided ground support to SDF forces engaging IS and cooperated with Iraqi security forces in tightening border security to prevent members of the jihadist group from escaping the battlefield.

But now both Iraqi and Coalition troops have withdrawn.

“Iraqi troops began moving guns out of Fire Support Base Um Jorais July 4 in a phased withdrawal. Coalition artillery and support functions followed, enabling clearance of the position after 34 days of combined operations,” the statement explained.

The central government is currently in charge of “security and administration” of the area, which many local officials consider insufficient to stave off IS insurgent attacks. 

On Aug. 3, 2014, IS fighters stormed Shingal, kidnapping and enslaving thousands of Ezidi women and girls, carrying out large-scale executions of hundreds of members of the religious minority in actions the UN has recognized as genocide.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, with the support of US-led coalition airstrikes, retook Shingal in a military operation staged in November of 2015.

Peshmerga were later forced to withdraw from Iraq’s disputed territories in October 2017 following an attack by Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias in response to the Kurdistan Region’s controversial referendum on independence. Fears of an IS resurgence throughout disputed areas have heightened over the past few months.

However, SDF operations continue in eastern Syria.

On Friday, the SDF launched operations against IS in the town of Hajin, the last IS stronghold in Deir al-Zour.

Editing by Nadia Riva