\'US withdrawal from Syria negative for Iraq\'

'US withdrawal from Syria negative for Iraq'

IANS  |  Baghdad 

Iraqi on Monday said that the US troops' withdrawal from neighbouring would have a negative impact on

"We have discussed... the US decision to withdraw troops from Syria, because this has great repercussions on Iraq," told a press conference after a weekly cabinet meeting, reported.

"If there is a security tension in (by the US pullout), there will be a wave of migration, and will be one of the first countries to be exposed to such issue," said.

"The terrorists may leave the Syrian territory and try to go to Iraq, and this also would have repercussions on our country," Abdul Mahdi added.

He stressed that needs to take precautions from now so that it will not be affected.

In addition, Abdul Mahdi denied that Iraq had received any request from the US to host its withdrawing troops from

"So far, there is no confirmation and we have not been informed about the settlement of the US troops in Iraq, and we have not received any request for Iraqi intervention in Syria," he added.

The mentioned that the US had informed him of the pullout of the US troops before the implementation of the decision, asserting that Pompeo confirmed that the will continue to support Iraq in its war against terrorism.

Abdul Mahdi's comments came two days after he held a phone call with Pompeo, who explained the details of the scheduled pullout from Syria.

Recently, US declared a plan to withdraw all US troops from Syria, citing the full defeat of IS millitants in the country.

These troops were part of a US-led coalition which has been fighting and conducting airstrikes against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

--IANS

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First Published: Tue, December 25 2018. 02:06 IST