U.S. Transfers Q-West Airfield to Iraqi Forces Citing Progress in Fight Against ISIS by Shawn Snow – Military Times
The U.S. military has handed over the Qayyarah Airfield West base, which is located just over 30 miles south of Mosul, Iraq.
Operation Inherent Resolve — the U.S.-led mission to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria — cited progress in the fight against ISIS as the reason for the base transfer. OIR said Iraqi forces are “increasingly” conducting independent operations.
“Today marks another milestone for the anti-ISIS international military Coalition and our Iraqi Security Forces partners,” Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Barker, the OIR director of sustainment, said in a news release.
“The Qayyarah base served as a strategic launching point for the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] and Coalition during the Battle of Mosul. In particular, the base serves as a hub for the Iraqi air force, who continue to deliver lethal strikes on Daesh bed-down locations," Barker said in the release…