ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A day after US. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the transfer of US troops stationed in Syria to Iraq, a large number of US troops left Raqqa towards Hasaka province, making preparations for a final withdrawal from the war-ravaged country.
Rudaw's Vivyan Fatah and Halkawt Aziz in Tal Tamr reported that they saw more than 70 American military vehicles and Humvees withdraw from Sirni military base in Raqqa, headed for Iraq.
Retreating American troops were escorted by helicopters, while 100 truck loaders entered Syria's Qamishli from Iraq in an apparent move to transfer heavy US weaponry, according to the Rudaw reporters.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached a deal with the Assad regime in Damascus for national forces to deploy to the border areas, apart Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tel Abyad), where clashes were ongoing. The United States then brokered a ceasefire between Turkey and the SDF that gives the SDF five days to pull out of Sari Kani and Gire Spi, hand over their heavy weapons, and move southward some 32 kilometres to the M4 highway, after which Turkey would commit to a full ceasefire. The precise details of the agreement are disputed.
Esper said on Saturday that their troops are going to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Islamic State militants and “to help defend Iraq.”
“The U.S. withdrawal continues apace from northeastern Syria... we’re talking weeks, not days,” Esper told reporters.
“The current game plan is for those forces to re-position into western Iraq,” Esper said, adding that they would number about 1,000.
A senior US defense official has noted that that the situation was still fluid and things could change.
“That is the current game plan, things can change between now and whenever we complete the withdrawal but that is the game plan right now,” the senior official added, according to Reuters.
The additional US troops would add to the more than 5,000 American troops already based in the country, training Iraqi forces and helping to ensure ISIS extremists do not regroup.
Esper said despite their withdrawal from Syria, they were still in contact with Kurdish forces and they appeared to continue to defend the prisons in areas they still controlled.
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