Anti-ISIS Task Force-Iraq transitions into Military Advisor Group amid Coalition drawdown

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States-led Coalition has announced its presence in Iraq will shrink and become primarily concerned with high-level advisory work, as the US and its anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition partners continue their withdrawal from the country.

As part of a "new approach" to support the country's armed forces in their continued campaign to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), Task Force-Iraq (TF-I) transitioned into the Military Advisor Group (MAG), according to a statement from the Coalition's Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) released Sunday.

"The Military Advisory Group provides staff and senior leader mentoring to partner forces, as Iraqi operational command liaison officers work side-by-side with Coalition counterparts from 13 nations to coordinate operations in pursuit of the enduring defeat of Daesh [Islamic State]," the statement said of MAG.

"The MAG will be smaller in size, but with expert specialized capabilities to advise Iraqi security staff and leaders," the statement reads, and will "enable greater operational reach for ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] missions to defeat Daesh [Islamic State] in Iraq."

A brief change-of-command ceremony to mark the "new phase in its advising mission to Iraqi Security Forces" took place at unspecified location on Thursday, the CJTF-OIR said.

As part of the force size reduction, some former TF-I personnel will "return to their home countries" or "reallocate to support other CJTF-OIR missions".

The Coalition handed over control of six military bases to the Iraq Security Forces (ISF) between March and May of this year, including Abu Ghraib near Baghdad, K-1 in Kirkuk, al-Qaim near the Syrian border, Qayyarah in western Iraq, al-Sqoor in Mosul, and al-Taqaddum in Anbar.

Transfers were made due to the success of its mission, as well as the coronavirus pandemic, the Coalition said. It dismissed claims the transfers were made due to persistent rocket attacks on bases hosting US and Coalition partner personnel, largely suspected to have been conducted by Iran-backed militias.

"All elements [of MAG] will assist the ISF with operational planning, intelligence fusion, and air support for Iraqi-led military operations to defeat the Daesh threat in Iraq," the statement said.

The 82-member anti-ISIS was established in September 2014, when the extremist group was seizing control of vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. Nearly 250,000 Iraqi security force members have been trained by the task force since its establishment, according to the statement.

Although declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria in March 2019, ISIS has continued to launch attacks, including kidnappings, assassinations, and ambushes, particularly in areas disputed by the governments of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

The extremist militant group is suspected to have stormed a Kakai village last month in Khanaqin, Diyala province, killing at least seven locals.

The Coalition details that over the past seven months of 2020, the ISF conducted more than 1,200 independent operations against ISIS to quell any resurgence, its most recent series of offensives being Heroes of Iraq in the north and west of the country.

Through messages published through its propaganda channels, ISIS has said it views US drawdown as an opportunity to spread its insurgency.

"Our jihadists will start to increase their attacks against the crusaders since the US has withdrawn from Iraq," ISIS spokesman Abu Hamza al-Qurashi said in an audio statement published in late May . "Our current attacks are only the start of bigger attacks in Iraq and Syria."

Anti-ISIS Task Force-Iraq transitions into Military Advisor Group amid Coalition drawdown

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