US troops will leave Syria soon and be deployed to western Iraq but the US military will continue to conduct anti-Daesh operations - US Defence Secretary Mark Esper
US Defence Secretary Mark Esper addresses reporters during a media briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, US, October 11, 2019.
His comments were the first to specifically lay out where American troops will go as they leave Syria and what the counter-Daesh fight could look like. Esper said he has spoken to his Iraqi counterpart about the plan to shift the more than 700 troops leaving Syria into western Iraq. Trump ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 US troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in a phone call that Turkish Armed Forces were about to enter Syria to push back YPG terrorists."One is to help defend Iraq and two is to perform a counter-ISIS [Daesh] mission as we sort through the next steps," he said. "Things could change between now and whenever we complete the withdrawal, but that's the game plan right now.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
All U.S. troops withdrawing from Syria expected to go to Iraq: Pentagon chiefU.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that all of the nearly 1,000 ...
Read more »
Defense chief: US troops leaving Syria to go to western IraqDefense Secretary Mark Esper says that under the current plan all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq, and the military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent a resurgence in that country.
Read more »
Calm reigns in northeast Syria as fragile U.S.-Turkey ceasefire holdsA fragile ceasefire was holding along Turkey's border with Syria on Saturda...
Read more »
The US-Turkey Syria agreement: Did Ankara get what it wanted?While Turkey agreed to pause its military operation in northern Syria, Washington guaranteed that the YPG/SDF will pull out from the region.
Read more »