After four-and-a-half inconclusive years of fighting, British forces slipped out of their last base in the Iraqi oil port of Basra yesterday and handed over control to their Iraqi comrades.
The move, carried out under cover of darkness, came amid heightened tensions between Washington and London, the closest US ally in Iraq, over their policy in the war-torn nation.
It also left behind a city in the grip of a brutal militia turf war.
"British troops began their withdrawal from Basra Palace at 11:00 last night [Sunday night]," said General Mohan Farhad, commander of Basra military operations.
"The Iraqi army has now taken over responsibility and the area is off-limits. No one can approach except those who are authorized," he said.
Iraqi soldiers were seen hoisting the Iraqi flag and posting guards outside the palace complex, as residents hailed the pull-out and called it a victory.
Farhad said the base would remain under Iraqi military control until Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki decides its fate.
In London a Ministry of Defense statement confirmed that all British troops had left the palace.
"The operation to leave the Basra Palace has now been completed successfully," a ministry spokesman said, adding that it was over by around 0800 GMT yesterday and involved some 500 soldiers.
The evacuation of the troops from late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's former palace on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway to a desert airbase just 11km west of Basra paves the way for a full British handover of security in the region to Iraqi authorities.
The British Ministry of Defense said this could take place in the fall.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed that British forces stood ready to "reintervene" if the security situation demanded.
"This is a pre-planned and this is an organized move," Brown told BBC radio. "We will discharge all our responsibilities to the Iraqi people; we will discharge our international obligations exacted in the United Nations."
Residents of Basra yesterday cheered the withdrawal.
"This is a victory for honest resistance. It is a pleasure [to see the troops go]," said trader Ahmed Ali Omar, 35. "We had long been wishing for the occupier to go so that stability can be restored."
Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush held a "council of war" with his security team at a desert air base in western Iraq yesterday, a week before testimony to Congress that could influence policy on the war.
Bush, heading for a showdown with congressional war critics pressing him to begin withdrawing troops, flew secretly to the al Asad Air Base in Anbar Province, where he was also due to meet Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki.
The president was accompanied by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Steven Hadley. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived separately.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Bush, Rice and Gates would meet their top commanders, Iraqi leaders including Maliki, and tribal leaders in Anbar, once a flashpoint province but now a success story for the US military.
"This is very much the meeting of the war council," Morrell told reporters at the US air base. "This will be the last big gathering of the president's advisers and the Iraqi leaders before the president makes a decision on the way forward."
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