US Troop Withdrawal From Northeast Syria To Take 'Weeks' - Pentagon Chief

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2019) The US military is in the early stages of a withdrawal process from northeastern Syria that could take weeks, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

"We're still in the early stages of a withdrawal from northeast Syria," Esper said. "It will take weeks, not days, and we're... in many ways only days into the withdrawal."

The Iraqi government said earlier on Tuesday that US forces now in Syria would not be allowed to remain in Western Iraq.

Esper said he would speak with Iraq's defense minister on Wednesday to discuss deployments of US troops.

"The aim is to pull our soldiers out and eventually get them back home," Esper said.

He added that the weeks needed for US forces to leave Syria left plenty of time for Washington and Baghdad to work out details of a withdrawal from Iraq.

On Monday, Esper said that a small contingent of American troops could remain in Syria to protect oil fields but that the proposal had not been discussed with US President Donald Trump.