U.S. Defense Secretary Arrives In Iraq Over Pull-out U.S. Troops
Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published October 23, 2019 | 06:42 PM
The U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrived in Iraq on Wednesday to hold talks with Iraqi leaders about the pull-out of the U.S. troops from northern Syria, an Iraqi Defense Ministry source said
Esper arrived in the capital of Baghdad in the morning and held a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Najah al-Shammari, discussing the U.S. troops withdrew from northern Syria, the source from the ministry media office told Xinhua.
The U.S. Defense Secretary is also expected to meet with top Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, over cooperation in the fight against terrorism and providing support to the Iraqi forces, the source said.
He will also meet U.S. commanders stationed in the country.
Esper's visit came a day after the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement that the U.S. forces crossing into Iraq as part of their withdrawal operation from Syria have no permission to stay in Iraq.
It said that "all U.S. forces withdrawing from Syria have been approved to enter the Kurdistan region to move out of Iraq, but there is no approval for these forces to remain inside Iraq." The JOC statement contradicts Esper's announcement on Sunday that roughly 1,000 U.S. troops withdrawing from the northeastern Syria will be repositioned into western Iraq to help defend the war-torn country against the Islamic State (IS) militants.
The United States has been withdrawing around 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria amid Turkey's military operations targeting the Kurdish forces in several parts of northeastern Syria launched about two weeks ago.
Originally, over 5,000 U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces during the battles against IS militants.
The troops were part of the U.S.-led international coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
NFL will allow players to wear Guardian Cap helmets in games
1 hour ago -
Football: German Bundesliga table
1 hour ago -
Football: Italian Serie A result
1 hour ago -
Football: German Bundesliga results
1 hour ago -
US troops to leave Chad in second African state withdrawal
1 hour ago -
Plastics pollution may be solved without production cap: Canada minister
1 hour ago
-
Biden stalls on menthol cigarette ban fearing Black vote backlash
2 hours ago -
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
2 hours ago -
6,000 French police to welcome Olympic torch amid bonus boost
2 hours ago -
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
2 hours ago -
'Ballistic' Bairstow stars as Punjab pull off record T20 chase
2 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
2 hours ago