Six years after the invasion of allied forces, US military personnel deployed in Iraq have now completed their pull out from the country's cities and towns, and passed the security reigns over to their Iraqi counterparts. In honour of the occasion, a new public holiday has been established and named 'National Sovereignty Day', while a large-scale party took place in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, on June 29th.

In the hours preceding the withdrawal, four members of the US armed forces serving in Iraq were reported as dead. Although confirming that these deaths had involved soldiers based in Baghdad, the US military provided no further information at this stage, bar that they had suffered "combat related injuries."

US Forces Deployed in Iraq

The timescale for the remainder of US forces deployed in Iraq now sees all combat operations terminating by September next year, and all deployed personnel being withdrawn entirely by the beginning of 2012.

Although now having left urban areas, Iraqi-based US troops will continue to serve alongside Iraqi security forces, with the most prominent military officials from both countries highlighting the prospect of a fresh wave of insurgent action.

The US military's overall level of deployed troops is about 131,000 - including the members of a dozen combat brigades - and it is not anticipated that this will reduce until February 2010 at earliest.

As far as Christopher Hill - American ambassador to Iraq- was concerned, the urban withdrawal represented a "milestone" moment. "Yes, we think Iraq is ready and Iraq thinks Iraq is ready", Hill stressed. "We have spent a lot of time working very closely with Iraqi security services... and I think there is an understanding that now it is the time."

US Combat Capabilities

He added that "a lot of US combat capabilities" would remain "in Iraq for months to come."

"After 30 June, with US combat forces out of cities and villages, localities, we'll still be in Iraq", he continued. "We will still have a very robust number of US troops in Iraq and, in fact, those troops will not begin to withdraw from Iraq until probably several months from now."

In the initial months of 2007, the US military upped its troop presence in Iraq through a succession of "surges", through which the number of personnel deployed there peaked at 170,000. The arrival of these extra numbers quelled down violence in the country for a while but, more recently, hostilities have spiked once more. This month alone has seen a number of attacks take place, from which almost 170 people have died.