WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said roughly 1,000 U.S. troops withdrawing from the northeastern Syria will be repositioned into western Iraq, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon on Sunday.
"The U.S. withdrawal continues apace from northeast Syria. Again, we're talking weeks not days. We want to be very deliberate and very safe as we go about it," Esper told reporters on Saturday en route to Afghanistan, according to the transcript.
Based on the "current game plan," those forces, which are about 1,000, will be repositioned into western Iraq to help defend the war-torn country and perform a counter-the Islamic State (IS) mission, the Pentagon chief added.
The United States has been withdrawing around 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria amid Turkey's military operations targeting the Kurdish forces in several parts of northeast Syria launched about two weeks ago.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that the U.S. troops leaving Syria will remain in the Middle East region to "monitor the situation," while a small number of U.S. forces will remain at At Tanf Garrison in southern Syria to counter the remnants of the IS.
The United States and Turkey reached an agreement on Thursday over a five-day truce in northern Syria.
According to the pact, Washington will help facilitate an "orderly withdrawal" of Kurdish-led troops from what Ankara has termed as a "safe zone" on the Syrian-Turkish border.
囧研究:糖果里的色彩心理学
查尔斯爆料娶戴安娜是“被父逼婚”
叙俄战机猛击反叛目标,导致数十人死伤
国内英语资讯: Beijing punishes developers, agents violating property sale ban
2017届高考英语一轮基础知识复习课件:选修8 Unit 1 A land of diversity(新人教版)
国际英语资讯:33 IS militants killed in fresh airstrikes in Afghanistan
家乡的月亮 The Moon In My Hometown
2016年我国网络订餐规模超3500亿元
联合国妇女署执行主任普姆齐莱•姆兰博-恩格库卡国际妇女节致辞
2017届高考英语一轮语法专题复习课件:9 虚拟语气(牛津译林版)