US Marines' Iraq command ends

The US Marines marked the end of nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday by handing the Army their command of Anbar province, once one of the war's fiercest battlefields but now a centerpiece of US-Iraqi cooperation.

The changing of the guard - overseen by military brass and some of Anbar's influential Sunni sheiks - signals the start of an accelerated drawdown of American troops as the US increasingly shifts its focus to the war in Afghanistan. (AP)