NATO withdraws troops from Iraq after US war against Iran triggers strong retaliation

In a significant development underscoring Iraq’s volatile security landscape, the NATO military alliance has reportedly withdrawn its advisory mission from the Arab country, relocating several hundred personnel to Europe.

The move, completed on Friday, follows a series of retaliatory attacks attributed to Iraqi resistance groups targeting US military bases and assets mainly in northern Iraq.

The decision to pull the mission, known as the NATO Mission Iraq (NMI), marks a strategic repositioning for the controversial military alliance known for war crimes in Iraq.

While the mission’s mandate remains active, its operational hub has now been transferred to NATO’s Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, according to reports

Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander overseeing the mission, confirmed the departure of the last contingent of personnel on Friday.

“The safety of our personnel is paramount,” Grynkewich said. “We remain committed to our Iraqi partners, but we will continue this essential work from a secure location.”

The NATO Mission Iraq was established in 2018 as a non-combat advisory and capacity-building initiative. Its core objective was to assist Iraq’s national security apparatus, but it has been involved in crimes against ordinary Iraqis and in facilitating American and Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In recent weeks, a series of drone and rocket attacks have targeted bases hosting US forces, carried out by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq in retaliation for the American-Israeli war of aggression against Iran and the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The aggression, which came in the middle of Tehran-Washington nuclear talks, has claimed nearly 1,300 lives, most of them ordinary civilians, including children and women.

US President Donald Trump has been unhappy with his NATO allies over their refusal to join his ill-fated anti-Iran naval coalition to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

NATO member countries have so far refused to join the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran.

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