ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - At least 26 trucks loaded with US humvees and military vehicles left Iraq’s Ain al-Assad air base on Saturday, a security source told The New Region.

“A new batch departed this afternoon as part of the evacuation operation being carried out by US forces from Ain al-Assad base,” a well-informed security source told The New Region.

"The convoy consisted of 26 trucks loaded with humvees, mine disposal vehicles, and caravans,” the source said, adding that the trucks took off to different locations with “20 trucks heading to Jordan, four trucks heading to Erbil, and two trucks heading to Basra."

Iraq and the US in September 2024 announced they had reached an agreement to wrap up the US-led coalition’s military presence in the country by “no later than the end of September 2025” and transition to bilateral security partnerships “in a manner that supports Iraqi forces and maintains pressure on ISIS.”

The US has approximately 2,400 military personnel deployed in Iraq. US forces were deployed to Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), which had then overrun large swathes of Iraqi territory in the north and west of the country.

The Iraqi PM’s military spokesperson Sabah al-Numan earlier this month said that the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq is “an indicator of Iraq’s ability to counter terrorism.”

Numan hailed PM Sudani’s efforts in concluding the matter, saying it would not have been possible without his “political efforts and insistence.”

On August 18, A US defense official told The New Region that Washington remains "committed to end the Coalition’s military mission inside of Iraq by September 2025 and will continue to support counter-ISIS operations in Syria from bases in Iraq through September 2026."

"After transition, the United States will continue a bilateral security cooperation relationship with Iraq," the official added.