BAGHDAD, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday met with Iraqi leaders over the cooperation to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants as well as the pullout of the U.S. troops from northern Syria.
In a comment on his Twitter page, Esper said he had an opportunity to discuss the U.S.-Iraqi bilateral relations with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
"We value our shared commitment to bring stability to Iraq through our train, advise and assist mission, and the importance of working together to defeat the common threat of IS," Esper said after his meeting with Abdul Mahdi.
Also on his Twitter page, the Pentagon chief said he held a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Najah al-Shammari which "was very productive."
"I stressed the U.S. commitment to defend the international rules-based order, the continued development of the Iraqi security forces and our combined efforts to defeat IS," he said after his meeting with al-Shammari.
Earlier in the day, a source from the media office of the Iraqi Defense Ministry told Xinhua that Esper was in the capital Baghdad for talks with Iraqi leaders about the pullout of the U.S. troops from northern Syria.
Esper's visit came a day after the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement that the U.S. forces that have crossed into Iraq as part of their withdrawal operation from Syria have no permission to stay in Iraq.
"All U.S. forces withdrawing from Syria have been approved to enter the Kurdistan region to move out of Iraq, but there is no approval for these forces to remain inside Iraq," JOC said.
The JOC statement contradicts Esper's announcement on Sunday that roughly 1,000 U.S. troops withdrawing from the northeastern Syria will be repositioned into western Iraq to help defend the war-torn country against the IS militants.
The United States has been withdrawing around 1,000 troops from northern Syria amid Turkey's two-week-long military operations targeting the Kurdish forces in several parts of northeastern Syria.
Originally, over 5,000 U.S. troops were deployed in Iraq to support the Iraqi forces during the battles against IS militants.
The troops were part of the U.S.-led international coalition that has also been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.
