US troops cross into Iraq from Syria
US troops have crossed into Iraq from Syria through
the Sahela border crossing in the northern province of Dohuk, Reuters witnesses
said on Monday.
Reuters video images showed armored vehicles
carrying troops into Iraq, part of the US withdrawal from Syria. A Reuters
cameraman saw more than 100 vehicles crossing.
An Iraqi Kurdish security source also told Reuters
that US troops had crossed into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Sunday all
US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will
continue operations against ISIS. Esper said the troops going into Iraq will
have two missions.
“One is to help defend Iraq and two is to perform a
counter-ISIS 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.”
The US currently has more than 5,000 American forces
in Iraq, under an agreement between the two countries. The US 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. The number of
American forces in Iraq has remained small due to political sensitivities in
the country, after years of what some Iraqis consider US occupation during the
war that began in 2003.
Esper said he has spoken to his Iraqi counterpart
about the plan to shift about 1,000 troops from Syria into western Iraq.
