US Troops move from Syria to Iraq is a routine move, the International Coalition says

Shafaq News / The international coalition said on Tuesday that U.S. Has deployed some of its troops stationed in Syria in Iraq recently, indicating that this decision came as a part of the routine military movements of U.S. forces.

International press sources stated that the US army transported military vehicles with about 50 soldiers from its base in the countryside of the city of Al-Malikiyah, northeast of Al-Hasakah Governorate, through the Al-Waleed crossing, into the Iraqi territory.

 These developments coincide with media reports about the current U.S. administration’s intention to withdraw its soldiers from eastern Syria, especially after the changes the U.S. President Donald Trump made in his administration. Trump dismissed Defense Secretary Mark Esper and replaced him with Christopher Miller, who in turn implemented changes in the military command positions. Most notably, Colonel Douglas McCregor, who is widely known for his repeated calls for withdrawal from Syria, was assigned as the first adviser to the Pentagon.

The Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the International Coalition Forces to Combat ISIS, General Kevin Copsey, the Official Spokesman for the International Coalition, Colonel Wayne Maruto, and the Official Spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, Keno Kabriel, held a press conference, attended by Shafaq News agency, at a US military base in Rumailan countryside in northeastern Syria.

"The coalition is committed to supporting Qasd since the mission to fight ISIS is not over yet," General Copsey said during the conference.

He stressed that the American forces will remain in Syria and that the movement of part of the US forces towards Iraq in the past few days comes within the framework of the usual movements of the coalition forces, denying that there is any withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria.

He added, "Our mission in Iraq and Syria has been accomplished by training 120,000 member of Iraqi security forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Peshmerga. We are now in a new phase, in which the coalition is committed to providing support to these forces. The mission has not ended yet, and we are committed to the elimination of ISIS and its financial networks. We have liberated 8 million people in Iraq and Syria thanks to coordination with the coalition forces, the SDF, the Peshmerga and the Iraqi forces."

For his part, the spokesman for the International Coalition Forces, Wayne Maruto, said, "We have accomplished the tasks entrusted to us in eliminating ISIS and its demise, and with the efforts of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Iraqi forces and Peshmerga forces, our primary mission is to defeat ISIS in Syria and Iraq."

 Kino Kabriel, the official spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, affirmed the continuation of joint work between the international coalition forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces," to defeat ISIS, not only from a military point of view but also from an intellectual point of view, and eliminate all sources of its funding."

 He added, "There are joint efforts that will be implemented in the field of camps and detention centers for ISIS members, supporting the infrastructure to open the road for the people to return to their homes, and  ensure the intellectual defeat of ISIS and cut off all the methods they use to support its operations."

 Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the International Coalition Forces, General Kevin Cobsey, also said that they are coordinating with Russian forces to prevent a clash in the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), demanding the Turkish state to support the political track to find solutions, and avoid the escalation in northeastern Syria.