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Statement

Statement | Jan. 16, 2025

USCENTCOM Commander Visits Iraq

USCENTCOM

Statement
Jan. l6, 2025

On 15 January, Gen. Kurilla visited Iraq to meet with U.S. and Iraqi military leaders in Baghdad as well as U.S. servicemembers in Erbil.

Gen. Kurilla visited Baghdad, where he met with Chief of General Staff Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, and Iraqi Joint Operations Deputy Commander Gen. Qais al-Muhammadawai.

The leaders discussed the status of the current Defeat-ISIS campaign in Iraq as well as the evolving situation in Syria. They also discussed the importance of returning the Iraqi ISIS detainees from Syrian Democratic Forces guarded detention facilities in Syria and the repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of the thousands of Iraqi citizens at Al Hol Internally Displaced Persons camp. 156 Iraqi ISIS detainees were transferred, and 3,203 Iraqi citizens were repatriated from Syria to Iraqi soil in 2024.

Additionally, Gen. Kurilla met with Major Gen. Kevin Leahy, Commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) for an assessment of the D-ISIS mission inside Iraq, which, in 2024, included more than 325 partnered operations and nearly 40 airstrikes.

The U.S. and Iraqi leaders discussed the importance of ongoing joint, partnered, and enabled operations to sustain pressure on ISIS leaders and operatives, disrupting and degrading their efforts to reconstitute and conduct operations in the region and beyond.