The U.S. Troops Exit One Hostal Environment Enter Another In Western Iraq
Posted On October 20, 2019
Mark Esper U.S. Defense Secretary said all the troops leaving Syria will now be stationed in western Iraq and the military will keep conducting operations against the Islamic state to help prevent the group from
Esper also told reporters who were traveling with him to the Middle East he was not ruling out that U.S. forces would conduct counterterrorism missions from Syria to Iraq.
Trumps decision to pull troops from Syria is still unclear, on Wednesday the president had this to say about the troops;
“Its time to bring our soldiers back home.”
The U.S. service men and women won’t be coming home anytime soon it looks like.
Troops were pulling out of Northern Syria even as Turkey invaded the boarder region. On Friday Trump ordered a cease-fire that was supposed to last five days, U.S. and Turkish leaders both agreed on the terms. Regardless it’s been reported that sporadic squabbles continue between Turkish fighters and the US allied Syria Kurdish forces.
President Recap Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey made it crystal clear on a phone call with Trump that he was sending forces to invade Syria to push out the Kurdish forces Turkey deemed as terrorists. Trump still ordered 1,000 troops be withdrawn from Syria, which in turn allowed Turkey to march right into Syria and start this offensive.
Our Kurdish allies have been fighting alongside U.S. troops for several years, the pullout abandons them against the Turks. At the outpost of Al-Tanf in southern Syria between 200-300 U.S. troops will remain to help against opposing forces.
The troops going into Iraq will have two missions Esper said.
“One is to help defend Iraq and two is to perform a counter-ISIS mission as we sort through the next steps.” “Things could change between now and whenever we complete the withdraw, but that’s the game plan right now.”
Watch as Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks about the situation.
(Image Courtesy Of VOA News, Video Is Courtesy Of YouTube, Source USA Today)
