KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - The last unit of the U.S. Air Force left Kuwait Tuesday after a decade-long stay, as Washington plans to close a number of desert military camps in the emirate, the U.S. ambassador here said.

The United States maintained a strong air force presence at Ahmad Al-Jaber Air Base, southwest of Kuwait City, since 1994, mainly to enforce the no-fly zone over southern Iraq and to defend Kuwait.

"The departure of American forces from Al-Jaber Air Base is a victory for Kuwait, for America and for the region," Richard Jones said in a speech to mark the occasion.

"Saddam Hussein, the greatest threat to Kuwait's existence, has been driven from power, never to return. Our joint mission of defending Kuwait against threats has been accomplished," Jones said.

Iraqi troops under Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait for seven months before being driven out in February 1991 by a U.S.-led multinational coalition.

Jones told reporters the departure of the air force from Kuwait did not indicate any major change in U.S. policy nor was it a response to terrorist threats.

"In terms of major shifts, I don't see any particular follow on ... This is not a response to (terror) threats ... It's a natural evolution of the fact that we have succeeded," Jones said.

The ambassador also said U.S. forces in Kuwait have been cut to "half" their number prior to the U.S.-led war on Iraq in March, but he declined to provide specific figures.

Kuwait served as a launchpad for more than 170,000 U.S. and British forces that invaded Iraq and overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein in April.

The United States "may close some of the desert camps that hosted our land forces in the run-up to the Iraqi," war, Jones said.

U.S. military sources here said Camp Doha, north of the capital, which served as the main American military base in Kuwait, will be shut down "within six months" as the U.S. military shifts operations to its permanent Camp Arifjan, south of the capital.

The U.S. military is currently using Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Mubarak Airbase, next to Kuwait International Airport, as the main transit point for thousands of U.S. troops leaving Iraq for home and returning from their "rest and recuperation" program.