ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The US-led coalition officially handed over Qayyarah Airfield West (Q-West) to the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) on Thursday, as part of the ongoing coalition repositioning plan inside Iraq.

Qayyarah military air base is located 60km south of Mosul, in Nineveh province. The transfer of its command follows the US troop handover of al-Qaim base in the western Iraqi province of Anbar last week.

“Today marks another milestone for the anti-ISIS international military coalition and our Iraqi Security Forces partners,” said Brig. Gen. Vincent Barker, the coalition’s director of sustainment in a statement seen by Rudaw on Thursday.

“Today’s transfer was coordinated with the Government of Iraq and is possible thanks to the efforts and successes of our ISF partners,” he said. 

“The coalition troops will depart Q-West base after the completion of equipment transfers to Iraqi Security Forces, in the coming days.”

US forces are expected to soon withdraw from Kirkuk’s K-1 airbase, where elite US and Iraqi troops are stationed.

The US-led coalition said late last week it is repositioning its personnel in Iraq in response to the coronavirus pandemic and to reflect its  “success” in the campaign to defeat ISIS.

“We anticipate the coalition supporting the Iraqi Security Forces from fewer bases with fewer people,” the coalition said in a statement on Friday.

Baghdad invited the international coalition to intervene in Iraq in 2014 when ISIS seized control of vast areas of Syria and Iraq, including Qayyarah. The base was liberated by Iraqi and coalition forces in 2016. 

Photos by Fazel Hawramy / Rudaw