BAGHDAD, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government said Monday the U.S. military will reduce its troops in Iraq after the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in the country.
"There is a coordination with the Iraqi government and the United States to gradually reduce the number of the U.S. troops in Iraq as victory has been achieved over IS group," spokesman Saad al-Hadithi told Xinhua via phone.
"The next stage will turn from military cooperation to training and arming the Iraqi forces," Hadithi said.
Hadithi's comment came after media reports said that the U.S. troops were seen withdrawing their soldiers, weapons and equipment during the past week to redeploy them in Afghanistan.
The U.S. ambassador Douglas Silliman had told local media "the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq has been decreased, especially in Anbar province in coordination with the Iraqi forces."
There will be a gradual reduction of the U.S. forces in the coming months without replacing them with others," Silliman said.
On Dec. 9, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.
Over 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces during the battles against IS militants.
The troops were part of the U.S.-led international coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.
