Centcom chief visits Iraq Wednesday to bolster anti-ISIS operations

General Michael Kurilla, head of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), visited Iraq on Wednesday to hold talks with U.S. and Iraqi military chiefs in Baghdad and meet U.S. troops stationed in Erbil, according to a statement published on Centcom's X account on Thursday. 

Kurill first travelled to Baghdad, where he met with the Chief of General Staff, General Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, and the Deputy Commander of Iraqi Joint Operations, General Qais al-Muhammadawi.

In Baghdad, Kurilla met with General Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, Iraq’s Chief of General Staff and General Qais al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Commander of Iraqi Joint Operations.

Discussions centered on the ongoing “Defeat-ISIS” campaign targeting the remnants of the Islamic State in Iraq, as well as the situation in Syria, where the Assad regime was ousted on Dec. 8 by the Islamist-led coalition Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

Participants in the meeting also stressed "the importance of the return of ISIS's Iraqi detainees from detention centers guarded by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria, as well as the repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of thousands of Iraqi citizens from the al-Hol displaced persons camp in northern Syria."

Centcom reported that in 2024, 156 Iraqi detainees held by ISIS were transferred, and 3,203 Iraqi citizens were repatriated from Syria to Iraq. However, the source of these figures was not disclosed.

Coalition strength

In Erbil, Kurilla met with Major General Kevin Leahy, Commander of the Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), to evaluate the progress of the "Defeat-ISIS" mission in Iraq. In 2024, the mission reportedly involved more than 325 partnership operations and nearly 40 airstrikes. According to the task force’s official website, its mission is to “advise, assist and empower [coalition] forces until they can defeat Daesh [ISIS] independently in designated areas of Iraq and Syria,” laying the groundwork for long-term security cooperation frameworks.

"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," the Centcom statement continued on X. 

Yesterday, Kurilla was in Israel, where he held "strategic" discussions with the Israeli General Staff, according to the Israeli army. Also, according to Haaretz, Kurilla made a detour through Jordan before he arrived in Iraq.