On August 31, President Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq. “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over,” he said from the Oval Office, as he ordered the withdrawal of all combat forces from the country. Now, only 50,000 troops remain, tasked with handing security operations over to the Iraqis.

But in recent weeks, the ostensibly non-combat role for the remaining American troops has been tested. Gabriel Gatehouse, a correspondent for our partner the BBC, spoke with several U.S. military personnel still in Iraq. Gatehouse reports that since Obama’s announcement, there have been at least three occasions in which U.S. forces have engaged in combat. In one incident, 14 Iraqis were killed in combat. For the remaining troops, they say the combat phase of the war is far from over.