The U.S.-led Operation Inherent Resolve is currently Estonia's largest military operation abroad, involving 110 members of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), and next year, it will be coming to an end.

According to Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform), it's important for Estonia to understand what the allies' future plans are.

Estonia has considered fully withdrawing from Iraq by September, but forces will already be reduced somewhat with the new rotation deploying at the beginning of 2025.

If Estonian troops should maintain any presence in the country, the defense minister confirmed two possible options: remaining in Baghdad as part of NATO's Iraq mission or staying at the Erbil base in a bilateral arrangement with an ally.

"The primary need is for instructors; perhaps we wouldn't even need to be very involved in base security," Pevkur highlighted. "Therefore, and actually based on these discussions, both the commander and the Headquarters of the EDF should propose this possible vision for the future."

According to the minister, a lot of things will surely become clearer after Trump takes office in the U.S.

Until then, the U.S. government's message has been that U.S. forces leaving Baghdad and Western Iraq will move to Erbil, and that operations in Iraq will continue at least until 2026.

"This will also be their main base in supporting various activities they have in Syria," he explained. "As we know, in Syria, their main focus is still on countering terrorism, the fight against terrorism as well as control over various detention facilities located there."

"The risk now is that these so-called prisons, or detention centers where they're held, could end up in a situation, due to the regime change, where they're no longer controlled," explained Maj. Gen. Vahur Karus, chief of staff of the EDF.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) recently unexpectedly announced that they have 2,000 troops in Syria, not the 900 that had been repeatedly confirmed previously.

U.S. military presence in Syria allegedly started being beefed up some time before the fall of the Assad regime earlier this month, once again on the grounds of the fight against the extremist Islamic State group and preventing its regrouping.

According to Col. Andres Hairk, commander of the Estonian contingent deployed in Iraq, that is the main objective of the entire allied operation in the region – which other tasks, including building up the Peshmerga, are meant to support.

"To draw a comparison, I think they're like Estonia was in the 1990s," Hairk acknowledged. "They are very committed, they're highly motivated, they may be a bit short on experience, and they're a bit short on equipment."

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