Denmark on Thursday (May 17th) announced it will be withdrawing its special forces from Iraq, where it has been part of the international coalition battling the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), following the ISIS defeat, AFP reported.

"We have now reached a point where we can begin withdrawing our special forces because ISIS no longer has control over large areas in Iraq," Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said in a statement.

Up to 60 special forces were sent to Iraq in 2016 to train and advise Iraqi soldiers after a vote by the Danish parliament. They also took part in operations on the Iraqi-Syrian border, providing intelligence and ad hoc air support.

"Their Iraqi partners are now ready to stand on their own two feet," Danish defence minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said in the statement.

"ISIS has been forced away from virtually all the areas which the terrorist group occupied in Iraq," he added.

Denmark has around 180 troops stationed at Ain al-Asad airbase near Baghdad, where they have been training Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish security forces.