{"id":46801,"date":"2026-09-29T14:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=46801"},"modified":"2026-09-29T14:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:56:07","slug":"us-forces-exit-iraq-after-two-decades-leaving-opening-for-iran","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-forces-exit-iraq-after-two-decades-leaving-opening-for-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"US forces exit Iraq after two decades, leaving opening for Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\"><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">United States (US) forces are set to pull out from their last bases in Iraq by Wednesday, a departure celebrated as a victory by Iran and its allies <\/span>\u200bwho now have deep influence in the country where 4 500 Americans died during more than two decades of war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Iraqi security experts say the withdrawal, agreed in 2024 under President Joe Biden and carried \u200cout by Donald Trump&#8217;s administration even as it wages war against Iran, could give Tehran and its powerful allies free rein, while also allowing other US enemies to stage a comeback, including Islamic State.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8220;Iran stands to benefit strategically from the coalition&#8217;s departure because it removes a military presence that for years acted as a counterweight to Tehran&#8217;s influence in Iraq,&#8221; said Jasim al-Bahadli, an Iraqi Security analyst specialising in studying armed Shi&#8217;ite groups aligned with Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">He predicted that the pro-Iranian militia groups would not only portray the departure as a victory for their movement, \u200bbut also &#8220;seek to translate that momentum into greater influence over security and political decision-making&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Abu Mojtaba al-Yasiri, a commander in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, described the US withdrawal as &#8220;a \u200bhistoric victory for the Iraqi Islamic resistance groups and honorable Iraqis, and a crushing defeat for the American project&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":38694,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-46801","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"US forces are set to pull out from their last bases in Iraq","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46802,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46801\/revisions\/46802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=46801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}