Britain may cut its force in Iraq in half by the middle of next year after handing over security responsibility for the south to Iraqis within nine months, a senior British commander said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on condition he not be identified, the commander said Britain would leave "quite a significantly smaller force than we've got now, but probably in the region of 3,000 to 4,000 people based in a single location."

Britain handed over responsibility for one of the southern provinces it controls to Iraqi forces in July, and the commander said it hopes to hand over a second province next month.
 
Most of Britain's 7,000 troops in Iraq are based around the second city of Basra, where the commander said a transition to Iraqi control could take place in the first quarter of 2007.

"These are all conditions-based, subject to a variety of factors, but in terms of the tactical plan and the competence of the Iraqi army, it is perfectly feasible," he said.

He said the first thousand British troops could start returning home in the next 4 to 6 months, in part representing forces being drawn down from Maysan province, where Britain has already begun moving out of its main base.

The 3,000 to 4,000-strong British force would remain in the Basra area after the handover "to protect our investment" in security in the mainly-Shi'ite south and show support for US troops still facing security problems in other parts of Iraq.

"We anticipate there is not going to be a political appetite to saying 'alright, we're done' while there is still unfinished business in the centre of the country," the commander said.
 
Britain has maintained a force of between 7,000 and 8,000 troops in southern Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The mainly-Shi'ite south has been far more peaceful than Sunni-dominated and ethnically mixed provinces in the centre of the country.

But Basra has seen a surge in violence over the past year, which British officials blame on rival Shi'ite factions battling for control of the city, which is at the heart of one of Iraq's main oil-producing regions.

The British commander said the main security concerns are local militia, such as offshoots of the Jaish al-Mehdi the Mehdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

"The mainstream Jaish al-Mehdi are not a particular worry, but there are rogue elements, some of them rather alarmingly close to government structures."

(China Daily August 23, 2006)