Nujaba hails coalition exit, rejects US security firms and advisers

BAGHDAD — The armed faction Harakat al-Nujaba on Thursday described the departure of U.S.-led coalition forces as the end of what it called a “dark era” in Iraq’s modern history, while warning against any continued presence of U.S. security companies and advisers in the country.

“After expelling the forces of the criminal American occupation and the other allied forces with it, by the grace of Almighty God, we have emerged from a dark era in our modern history,” the group said in a statement.

Nujaba credited the withdrawal to armed resistance. “This victory is a fulfillment of the promise made to our two great martyrs, Soleimani and al-Muhandis, to remain steadfast in the military option to expel all criminal forces that bring Iraq nothing but evil and harm,” the statement said, referring to Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Popular Mobilization Forces leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed in a U.S. strike near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020.

The group said the United States had been forced to sign what it called a “withdrawal agreement” after failing to stay in Iraq through military operations. “They will leave despite themselves, despite idiot Trump, and they will leave all of West Asia,” the statement said.

Nujaba said it opposes any continued U.S. presence through security companies or advisers and called for relations with Washington to be conducted as between equals. It also called for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to be scaled down and for an end to what it described as American influence over Iraq’s economy, politics and airspace. “The evil American Embassy must be reduced to the lowest level, or Iraq should open an embassy of the same size in evil America,” it said.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi formally declared the end of the U.S.-led coalition’s mission against the Islamic State group on Wednesday, 12 years after it began, telling a Sovereignty Day ceremony in Baghdad that Iraq now takes full responsibility for its own security. The government has declared a holiday for state institutions until Saturday.

The mission ended under a 2024 agreement between Baghdad and Washington. Coalition forces left their bases in federal Iraq in January, including Ain al-Asad Air Base and the Joint Operations Command headquarters, and the remaining presence in the Kurdistan Region, which supported operations in Syria, has now left Erbil Air Base, the last coalition base in Iraq.

Separately, the armed group Ashab al-Kahf said it would monitor U.S. aircraft and ground movements in Iraq and respond militarily to any foreign presence from the night of Sept. 30, rejecting any handover of its weapons.