Jerusalem Post says Baghdad asked the US back and now cheers its exit; Iraq's armed factions say their weapons stay until US and NATO forces are gone

The event. The Jerusalem Post reports that US-led coalition forces are ending operations in Iraq. Its photograph, from Reuters, is dated 30 September 2026 in Baghdad.

Two readings. They do not answer each other. Neither carries a government voice.

Who celebrated. The Jerusalem Post headline says "Baghdad celebrates". Its own photo caption says the crowd is "supporters of a Shi'ite armed group".

What is not settled

• Whether Baghdad asked the US to return. The Jerusalem Post states it without a source.
• Whether the weapons talks took place. Only the group says so. We hold no government reply.
• Whether any NATO or US forces stay, and in what role. No report we hold says.
• We hold only LBCI's headlines, not the full statements.

What this is about. Foreign military forces led by the United States are leaving Iraq. Armed groups inside Iraq are arguing over what that means for their own weapons.

How it got here. The United States led the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and removed Saddam Hussein. US combat troops withdrew at the end of 2011. In 2014 the Islamic State group seized large parts of northern and western Iraq, and the Iraqi government asked for help. A US-led coalition returned to fight it. In the same year Iraqi volunteer militias, many of them Shia and several close to Iran, formed the Popular Mobilisation Forces. These were later made part of the Iraqi state.

After the Islamic State group lost its territory, pressure grew for foreign troops to leave. In January 2020 a US strike in Baghdad killed the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Days later, Iraq's parliament voted for foreign forces to leave. The Gaza war began in October 2023, and after that, groups using the name Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed attacks on US forces. In September 2024 Washington and Baghdad announced that the coalition's mission would wind down in stages. NATO runs a separate advisory mission in Iraq.

The actors. Iraq's government was formed by the Coordination Framework, an alliance of mainly Shia parties. The armed factions sit partly inside the state and partly outside it. The United States and NATO want a stable Iraq where the Islamic State group does not return. Israel watches the factions because of their ties to Iran.

What is at stake. Whether Iraq's state gains sole control of armed force. The alternative is that the factions keep their arms by pointing to foreign forces that remain.

Where it stands. The coalition is leaving. The factions say their weapons stay until US and NATO forces are gone. We hold no statement from the Iraqi or US government.