Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq included 14 F/A-18 Hornet fighters). Combat forces committed to Operation Falconer for the 2003 Invasion were withdrawn during 2003. Under the name Operation Catalyst, Australian combat troops were redeployed to Iraq in 2005, however, and assumed responsibility for supporting Iraqi security forces in one of Iraq's southern provinces. These troops began withdrawing from Iraq on 1 June 2008 and were completely withdrawn by 28 July 2009. A headquarters staff of about 60 personnel under the command of Brigadier Maurie McNarn. Planning for the deployment of ADF units to the Middle East began in mid-2002 when Australian officers were attached to
Iraq–Syria relations pumping of oil through the Syrian territories which was suspended in 1982. Syria strongly opposed the occupation of Iraq in 2003, stressing the necessity to maintain the independence of Iraq and support its political process, demanding a time table for the withdrawal of the foreign troops from Iraq. Syria has also played the host for more than 2 million Iraqis, providing refuge for them. Syria and Iraq formally ended more than twenty years of diplomatic estrangement, when Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, visited Iraq in 2006, which was the first such meeting since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.