A UK Ministry of Defence press release dated 30 September 2026 said the Global Coalition’s military mission against Daesh in Iraq, Operation Inherent Resolve, had successfully concluded and its forces, including UK personnel, had departed. The release said Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga had secured Daesh’s enduring territorial defeat in Iraq and were well placed to take primary responsibility for the country’s security.

The department said the UK had trained and assisted more than 111,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces, including more than 21,000 Peshmerga, in infantry, weapons maintenance, counter-IED, medical and engineering skills. It said the RAF had conducted thousands of sorties striking more than 2,300 Daesh targets and providing surveillance and reconnaissance. Operation Inherent Resolve was established in 2014 under the 90-partner Global Coalition Against Daesh.

The release said the UK would continue Operation SHADER and work toward an enduring bilateral defence partnership with Iraq covering counter-terrorism, military education, capability development and defence industrial collaboration.