Defense secretary says U.S. troops in Syria to transfer to Iraq, Trump maintains they're coming home

Mark Esper.
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

It appears U.S. troops leaving Syria won't be coming home — at least not yet — as President Trump had indicated last week, and reiterated today.

Instead, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Saturday that all U.S. troops leaving northern Syria will be re-stationed in western Iraq where they will reportedly defend the country and continue to conduct preventative operations against the Islamic State, as the cease-fire brokered with Turkey in northern Syria mostly seems to be holding. Esper also did not rule out counterterrorism missions from Iraq into Syria.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.