Pentagon chief visits Iraq to discuss withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, where he is likely to face questions about how long U.S. troops withdrawing from northeast Syria will stay in Iraq, Report informs citing TASS.

Esper is expected to meet his Iraqi counterpart as well as Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and discuss the U.S. troop drawdown from Syria and the role Iraq will play in it.

His trip also follows Ankara and Moscow agreeing on Tuesday that Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey.