The least 10,500 US soldiers in Iraq are preparing to leave by the end of this month, the spokesman for the Iraqi Defence Ministry Mohammed al-Askari said on Sunday. "The withdrawal is going ahead as scheduled under supervision of joint commissions and a security agreement between the two countries," al-Askari told state television Al Iraqia.
President Barack Obama announced in October that all US troops would leave Iraq by the end of the year, after more than eight years of military involvement in the country. Efforts to extend the US mission beyond the deadline failed following the Iraqi government's reluctance to grant immunity to troops that would have remained after December 31.