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US Military Crosses Into Iraq From Syria

VOA News

   U.S. troops have crossed into Iraq from Syria, Reuters reported Monday.

   The news agency said the troops traveled over the Sahela border to
   Iraq's northern province of Dohuk.

   A Reuters cameraman and an Iraqi Kurdish security source told Reuters
   that they had seen a convoy of U.S. military vehicles crossing the
   border into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

   A security source in Mosul also told Reuters that the U.S. troops had
   crossed into Iraq from Sahela.

   U.S. troops withdrew from their largest base in northern Syria Sunday,
   with defense chief Mark Esper saying all American forces leaving Syria
   would be deployed to western Iraq to carry out anti-terrorist
   operations against Islamic State.

   Esper said more than 700 U.S. troops would be moved to Iraq and not
   come "home" as U.S. President Donald Trump had tweeted they would.

   Esper did not rule out possible U.S. counterterrorism raids from Iraq
   into Syria. But he said plans would be developed over time and include
   discussions with NATO allies in the coming days. He said if U.S. forces
   return to Syria they would be protected by American aircraft.

   The U.S. currently has about 5,000 troops in Iraq under an agreement
   between Baghdad and Washington. The U.S. had pulled out in 2011 when
   combat operations ended there, but went back in three years later when
   Islamic State took over large parts of the country before later losing
   what it had gained.

   Meanwhile, Esper said the five-day cease-fire between Turkish and
   Kurdish forces in northern Syria signed last Thursday "generally seems
   to be holding."

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