'US withdrawal from Syria negative for Iraq'

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Monday said that the US troops' withdrawal from neighbouring Syria would have a negative impact on Iraq.

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

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

"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 prime minister mentioned that the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had informed him of the pullout of the US troops before the implementation of the decision, asserting that Pompeo confirmed that the United States 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 President Donald Trump 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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