The Latest: US troops from Syria to leave Iraq in 4 weeks

US troops who crossed into Iraq after withdrawing from northern Syria will leave the country within four weeks, says Baghdad official after meeting Defense Secretary Mark Esper

  • Defense Secretary Mark Esper is in Baghdad to discuss US military in the region
  • He met with Iraqi Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari over US troop withdrawal
  • Shammari aid American forces leaving Syria to Iraq will leave within four weeks 
  • Iraq’s military contradicted Esper who said US troops leaving Syria would continue to conduct operations against ISIS from Iraq

Iraq’s defense minister has said that American forces withdrawing from Syria to Iraq will leave the country within four weeks.

Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari made the remarks today after meeting US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who arrived in Baghdad today to discuss the troops.

Following a meeting with Esper, Shammari said that the American troops crossing from Syria are ‘transiting’ in Iraq and will then head either to Kuwait, Qatar or the United States.

Iraq’s military said yesterday that American troops leaving northeastern Syria don’t have permission to stay in Iraq in a statement that appeared to contradict Esper, who has said that all US troops leaving Syria would continue to conduct operations against ISIS from Iraq to prevent its resurgence in the region.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper talks to reporters at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, yesterday where he saw a Patriot missile battery that the US sent to Saudi to help protect the kingdom against the Iranian threat

Iraqi Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari (right) meeting with visiting US Defense Secretary Mark Esper (left) at the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad today

Esper had said earlier today that he plans to talk with Iraqi leaders about the matter.  

The Defense Secretary arrived in Baghdad on a visit aimed at working out details about the future of American troops that are withdrawing from Syria to neighboring Iraq.

Wednesday’s meetings at the Iraqi Defense Ministry comes a day after Iraq’s military said American troops leaving northeastern Syria don’t have permission to stay in Iraq.

The Iraqi statement appeared to contradict Esper, who has said that all US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and that the military would continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence in the region.

Esper then said that he plans to talk to Iraqi leaders to work out the details, adding that the US has no plans to have those troops stay in Iraq ‘interminably’.

He later added that the troops would be there temporarily until they are able to go home, but no time period has been set.

Iraqi Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari (right) and US Defense Secretary Mark Esper (left) stand for their country’s national anthems during a welcome ceremony at the Ministry of Defense, Baghdad, Iraq, today

Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey reached an agreement on Tuesday that would deploy their forces along nearly the entire northeastern border to fill the void left after President Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of US forces from the area, a move that essentially cleared the way for the Turkish invasion earlier this month.

It was unclear Wednesday what that means for US forces.

Trump ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 US troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Ankara considers terrorists.

The pullout largely abandons the Kurdish allies who have fought the Islamic State group alongside US troops for several years. 

Between 200 and 300 US troops will remain at the southern Syrian outpost of Al-Tanf.

Esper said the troops going into Iraq would have two missions, one to help defend Iraq against a resurgence of Islamic State militants and another to monitor and perform a counter-IS mission.

The US currently has more than 5,000 American forces in Iraq, under an agreement between the two countries. 

Esper (center right being welcomed by Shammari) arrived in Baghdad on a visit aimed at working out details about the future of American troops that are withdrawing from Syria to neighboring Iraq 

The US pulled its troops out of Iraq in 2011 when combat operations there ended, but they went back in after the Islamic State group began to take over large swaths of the country in 2014.

The number of American forces in Iraq has remained small due to political sensitivities in the country, after years of what some Iraqis consider US occupation during the war that began in 2003. 

Iraqi leaders may privately condone more US forces to battle ISIS, but worry if it’s widely known that there will be backlash from the citizens.

U.S. troops in Syria fought for five years alongside Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria and succeeded in bringing down the rule of IS militants – at the cost of thousands of Kurdish fighters’ lives. 

Under the new agreement, much of that territory would be handed over to US rivals.

The biggest winners are Turkey and Russia. Turkey would get sole control over areas of the Syrian border captured in its invasion, while Turkish, Russian and Syrian government forces would oversee the rest of the border region. 

America’s former US allies, the Kurdish fighters, are left hoping Moscow and Damascus will preserve some pieces of the Syrian Kurdish autonomy in the region.

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