The United States has formally ended Operation Inherent Resolve and withdrawn from Iraq, including Erbil Air Base, on a deadline Washington and Baghdad set two years earlier. US Central Command said personnel and equipment had left Erbil. Admiral Brad Cooper said Iraqi forces, including the Peshmerga, can now manage threats on their own. Al Jazeera reported that the US took key air-defense systems with it. Peshmerga Sixth Front commander Sirwan Barzani told Kurdistan24 the region still has no integrated air defense and has faced more than 1,000 missile and drone attacks in the recent conflict, and that ISIS remnants remain active. On the coalition's last day, Kurdistan Regional Government prime minister Masrour Barzani said the Peshmerga are strong and prepared and that partnerships would continue in other forms.
Baghdad and Erbil are also divided over the draft 2027 budget. Iraq's Ministerial Council for Economy approved the draft on 27 September and sent it toward cabinet, with the bill due in parliament by 15 October. Kurdish officials say Baghdad wants 500,000 barrels of oil a day from the region, while the Kurdistan Regional Government has offered 265,000, and that the draft sets the region's share at 12.67 percent while Erbil wants 14.67 percent. Those oil and share figures come from Kurdish officials, not from a published Baghdad text.
In Syria, Kurdistan24 reported on 3 October that more than 5,000 Syrian Democratic Forces fighters have joined the Syrian army, a figure that outlet alone has given. The same week, residents in Hasakah marched after Friday prayers demanding full government control. Rudaw, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said some protesters burned a Kurdish flag and that Kurdish residents later marched in support of the Kurdish-led administration. Presidential adviser Mazloum Abdi met Syria's education minister about implementing the decree on Kurdish-language schooling. An August ministry decision limited Kurdish instruction to three classes a week in public schools in Kurdish-majority areas.
In Turkey, working groups on the Kurdish peace process were assigned roles on 28 September, but the National Security Council meeting on 30 September did not confirm that the PKK has disarmed, which the August framework law requires before legal relief. On 1 October, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli asked DEM Party İmralı delegates to pass on a greeting. Sözcü reported the exchange. Later reporting said the greeting was meant for Abdullah Öcalan.
On 30 September a drone struck the KDPI Azadi camp near Koya in Erbil province. The party said Iran launched it and that there were no casualties. Inside Iran, English-language coverage this week is thinner. Rudaw, citing the Hengaw Organization, reported that Iranian forces shot and killed a Kurdish shepherd in Kermanshah province, and a kolbar on 23 September.