City
Epaper

Esper arrives in Baghdad as Iraq denies US troops' stay

By IANS | Updated: October 23, 2019 16:10 IST

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday made a surprise visit to Baghdad, two days after a convoy of US troops withdrawing from Syria crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan.

Open in App

A government source said that Esper held an early morning meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Najah al-Shammari at the headquarters of the Iraqi ministry of defence to discuss joint action to combat the Islamic State terror organisation, Efe news reported.

The US official is scheduled to meet with the troops that entered the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Monday.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi military said the US troops leaving Syria amid the Turkish offensive were not permitted to stay in Iraq and would later be transferred outside the country.

The Russian military police and Syrian regime border guards agreed Tuesday to clear the Syrian People's Protection Units (YPG) from the 30-kilometer deep buffer zone sought by Ankara within a period of 150 hours.

The Russia-Turkey pact came a few hours before the expiry of a five-day ceasefire agreed on 17 October in Ankara with a US delegation.

Turkey launched an offensive in the northeastern Syrian border on 9 October shortly after the US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the remaining troops from the region.

Ankara considers the YPG to be a terror group indistinguishable from the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), a guerrilla group widely listed as a terror organization that has fought the Turkish state in the country's predominantly Kurdish east for decades.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: SyriausIraqAnkara
Open in App

Related Stories

InternationalIndian-Origin Man Beheaded In US In Front Of Family After Violent Dispute

BusinessAnil Ambani’s Reliance Power and Reliance Infra Shares Zoom Even as Indian Markets Tumble Amid US Tariffs

InternationalMissouri House Blast: 5 Injured After Huge Explosion Damages 20 Homes in St Louis County

InternationalHurricane Erin Enters Into Category 2 Storm With Maximum Winds of 100 mph, Heavy Rainfall Over Caribbean Islands Likely

InternationalIowa Shooting: Two Killed, One Injured In Firing and Blast in Glenwood; Suspect Arrested

International Realted Stories

InternationalIsraeli forces deatins Greta Thunberg as navy intercepts more than 10 Flotilla ships

InternationalTributes pour in as world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall passes away

International"Bapu's ideals continue to inspire...": EAM Jaishankar pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi

InternationalTaiwan detects 11 PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN vessels near its territory

InternationalTrump offers Qatar unprecedented military protection against attacks