SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

In Iraq's Al Anbar province, the II Marine Expeditionary Force handed over command to the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division as Marine Corps deployments to Iraq end after more than six years, the armed forces said Sunday.

At Camp Ramadi, many Iraqi soldiers, police, sheiks and government officials joined U.S. service personnel at a ceremony to mark the transfer of authority.

"There have been many significant security gains in Anbar over the last couple of years", said Maj. Gen. R.T. Tryon, the commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force. "Many of the people responsible for these gains are here in the audience today. We praise you for your courage and determination."

Anbar province was once a stronghold of the al-Qaida-backed insurgency that gripped Iraq in 2007. At the height of the insurgency, almost 27,000 Marines were in Iraq, mostly in Anbar province.

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