Middle East Desk
Report
BAGHDAD: The US-led international coalition forces, tasked with fighting the Islamic State (IS) militant group, on Saturday handed over to the Iraqi security forces a new military base of Basmaya near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the official news agency and coalition statement said.
“The handover of the Spanish forces’ base, which is part of the international coalition, in Basmaya Camp to Iraqi forces came according to an agreed timetable between the Iraqi government and the coalition command,” the state-run Iraqi News Agency quoted Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC), as saying. “This is the seventh military site that was handed over from the international coalition to Iraqi forces,” al-Khafaji said. “The Spanish forces in the site had trained the Iraqi security forces and will leave Iraq after they have completed their duty,” he said.
Meanwhile, a coalition statement said that a ceremony was held in Basmaya Camp in the southeast of Baghdad on the occasion of handing over the military site to the Iraqi forces. “Due to Iraqi security forces’ success in the campaign against Daesh (IS group), the coalition is adjusting its positioning and focus in Iraq. These military movements are long-planned in coordination with the government of Iraq,” the statement said. “Today marks the seventh base this year transferred to the Iraqi security forces, as part of an ongoing partnership between the Iraqi security forces and the anti-IS international military coalition,” the statement quoted Maj. Gen. Gerald Strickland as saying.
The statement also said that the coalition “will continue to relocate and consolidate personnel and equipment from Iraqi bases throughout 2020, in cooperation with the government of Iraq.”
