Iraq assumes full control of military base in Nineveh

Baghdad, March 27 (IANS) Iraqi security forces have taken full control of the al-Qayyara military base from the US-led coalition forces in the northern province of Nineveh.

“The international coalition forces handed over the al-Qayyara base to Iraqi forces at the request of the Iraqi government after the end of their combat mission,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Defence as saying in a statement on Thursday.

The military base is the second one that the international coalition forces have handed over to the Iraqi security forces within a week, according to the statement.

It said that Iraq will also take full control of other bases, including K1 in the country’s northern province of Kirkuk, and the Habbaniyah base in Anbar, in addition to a coalition headquarters within the complex of Nineveh Operations Command.

The handover of al-Qayyara base confirms the ability of the Iraqi forces to maintain the security and sovereignty of Iraq from any attack, the statement added.

On January 5, the Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution requiring the government to end the presence of foreign forces in the country, just two days after a US drone attack in Baghdad killed Qasem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolution Guards Corps.

Over 5,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the country’s forces in battles against the Islamic State (IS) terror group, mainly for training and advisory purposes.

The troops were part of the US-led international coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

–IANS

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