Iraq says U.S. forces evacuating Syria don't have permission to remain in Iraq

Iraq on Tuesday gave the U.S. military the old bartender's line at closing time: You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said over the weekend that most of the roughly 1,000 U.S. troops leaving Syria on President Trump's orders would go to western Iraq and perhaps continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State in Syria, though he suggested Monday that some smaller number might stay in Syria to guard oil fields. On Tuesday, Iraq's military said "all U.S. forces that withdrew from Syria received approval to enter the Kurdistan Region so that they may be transported outside Iraq," but "there is no permission granted for these forces to stay inside Iraq."

A senior U.S. defense official later told Reuters that the situation in Iraq and Syria was still fluid and plans may change.

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More than 5,000 U.S. troops are already in Iraq, and growing that number significantly would have political ramifications in a country the U.S. invaded in 2003, left in 2001, then returned to help Iraq fight ISIS. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports, "news of the American withdrawal set off jubilation among Islamic State supporters on social media and encrypted chat networks. It has lifted the morale of fighters in affiliates as far away as Libya and Nigeria."