{"id":34544,"date":"2019-10-22T12:10:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T12:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/22\/iraq-american-troops-leaving-syria-cannot-stay-in-iraq\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:22:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:22:48","slug":"iraq-american-troops-leaving-syria-cannot-stay-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/22\/iraq-american-troops-leaving-syria-cannot-stay-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq: American troops leaving Syria cannot stay in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BAGHDAD \u2014 U.S. troops leaving Syria and heading to neighboring Iraq do not have permission to stay in the country, Iraq\u2019s military said Tuesday as American forces continued to pull out of northern Syria after Turkey\u2019s invasion of the border region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement appears to contradict U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has said that under the current plan, all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq <\/a>and the military would continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Esper said he plans to talk to Iraqi leaders to work out details about the U.S. plan to send American troops withdrawing from Syria to Iraq, adding that the U.S. has no plans to have those troops stay in Iraq \u201cinterminably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to reporters at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Esper said he\u2019ll have a discussion with the Iraqi defense minister on Wednesday. He said the aim is to pull U.S. soldiers out and \u201ceventually get them home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Defense
Defense Secretary Mark Esper talks to reporters at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, where he saw a Patriot missile battery that the U.S. sent to Saudi to help protect the kingdom against the Iranian threat. (Lolita Baldor\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump ordered the bulk of U.S. troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pullout largely abandons the Syrian Kurdish allies who have fought the Islamic State group alongside U.S. troops for several years. Between 200 and 300 U.S. troops will remain at the southern Syrian outpost of Al-Tanf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angered at feeling betrayed, some residents in areas populated predominantly by Kurds in both Syria and Iraq have pelted the withdrawing troops<\/a>. On Monday, a U.S. convoy that was driving down an avenue in the Kurdish-dominated city of Qamishly was pelted with potatoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike rats, America is running away,\u201d one man shouted in Arabic at the vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near the Iraqi city of Irbil, a small group of young men threw stones at a convoy of U.S. armored vehicles, shouting obscenities as it drove down a main highway, according to a video circulating online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, the Iraqi Kurdish regional government said the positive role played by U.S.-led coalition forces in northern Iraq, protecting and assisting its residents, should not be confused with an \u201cunpopular political decision\u201d that has been taken \u2014 a reference to Trump\u2019s sudden move to withdraw troops from Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Iraqi official said his government has told the Americans that they will allow the U.S. forces to pass through, but not to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey understood that and will clarify that\u201d in the next hours, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of American forces in Iraq has remained small due to political sensitivities in the country, after years of what some Iraqis consider U.S. occupation during the war that began in 2003. It is a potentially explosive issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. currently has more than 5,000 American forces in Iraq, under an agreement between the two countries. The U.S. pulled its troops out of Iraq in 2011 when combat operations there ended, but they went back in after IS began to take over large swaths of the country in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Iraqi government announced victory against IS in 2017, calls for an American troop withdrawal increased amid concerns about America\u2019s long-term intentions, particularly after it withdraws its troops from Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, Trump angered Iraqi politicians and Iranian-backed factions by arguing he would keep U.S. troops in Iraq and use it as a base to strike Islamic State group targets inside Syria as needed. In February, he infuriated Iraqi leaders when he said U.S. troops should stay in Iraq to monitor neighboring Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\t