Iraq refuses long stay of US troops withdrawing from Syria

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[size=52]Defense Minister: US troops withdrawing from Syria will leave Iraq within four weeks[/size]

[size=45]Translated by: Hamid Ahmed
[size=45]Iraqi Defense Minister Najah al-Shammari said Wednesday that US troops withdrawing from northeastern Syria to Iraq will leave the country within four weeks and that they are only temporarily in transit.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari said in a statement to the Associated Press after meeting with his US counterpart Mark Isber in Baghdad that the visit came at the invitation of the Iraqi side. He said that during the talks between the two parties on Wednesday it was agreed that US forces coming from Syria to Iraq are merely in the case of transit through Iraqi territory and then to either Kuwait, Qatar or the United States "within a period of not more than four weeks."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari said that the planes that will transport US troops outside Iraq have completed their arrival in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi army said in a statement on Tuesday that US forces withdrawing from Syria had no consent to stay in Iraq, in contrast to an earlier statement by US Defense Secretary Esper, who said that US troops leaving Syria would continue to perform military tasks against ISIS from inside Iraq to prevent it from Reappear in the region.[/size]
[size=45]But he later said the troops would be there temporarily until they could return home, but gave no specific timeframe. Speaking before his arrival in Iraq on Wednesday, Esper said the United States had no plans to leave the troops in Iraq "indefinitely" and that he intended to discuss with Iraqi leaders about the matter.[/size]
[size=45]The Pentagon official told CNN that US forces ordered to leave northern Syria would move "temporarily" to Iraq before returning to the United States, and that President Donald Trump has yet to approve a plan to leave part of the troops in Syria to protect Oil fields there.[/size]
[size=45]"We are conducting a deliberate phased withdrawal from northeastern Syria and we will be temporarily stationed in Iraq and then be prepared to move the troops home. This withdrawal is just a phase of continuous withdrawal that will eventually be completed by the transfer of troops to their home country, the United States. ”[/size]
[size=45]Esper's visit to Baghdad came a day after Turkey and Russia reached an agreement to deploy their forces along the entire border line of northeastern Syria to fill the vacuum left after US troops left the region.[/size]
[size=45]President Trump ordered the withdrawal of all 1,000 US troops in Syria after receiving a call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his forces were ready to invade Syrian territory to push Syrian Kurdish forces, whom Ankara considers terrorists.[/size]
[size=45]The Pentagon official said Esper said that the troops withdrawing to Iraq will be charged with two missions, one of which is to help defend Iraq against any threat from ISIS militants and the second task is to monitor and carry out counter-ISIS operations.[/size]
[size=45]The United States currently has more than 5,000,000 troops deployed in Iraq, according to an agreement between the two countries. The United States withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011 when their combat missions ended, and then returned again after ISIS began to invade large areas of the country in 2014.[/size]


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