The United States and Iraq held the first formal summit on Saturday in Baghdad aimed at ending the mission of the US-led military coalition, which was formed to fight the Islamic State in Iraq, as reported by the Associated Press.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that he supported “the start of the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq and the United States of America on ending the Coalition mission in Iraq.”

The start of the talks, announced by both countries on Thursday,It comes as US forces in Iraq and Syria have been frequently targeted by drone strikes launched by Iranian-backed militias in the Israel-Hamas war.

For its part, the US says plans to set up a committee to negotiate the terms of ending the mission were first discussed last year and the timing is unrelated to the attacks.

Washington has had a continuous presence in Iraq since its 2003 invasion. Although all US combat forces left in 2011, thousands of troops returned in 2014 to help the Iraqi government defeat the Islamic State.

Since ISIS lost its grip on the territory it once held, Iraqi officials have periodically called for the withdrawal of coalition forces, particularly after a January 2020 US airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside Baghdad airport.

The issue has resurfaced since Israel began its military operation in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Since mid-October, an Iranian-backed militia group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has launched regular attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, which the group says are in retaliation for Washington’s support for Israel in war in Gaza.