US Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday on a surprise visit that is likely to focus on how long US troops withdrawing from northeast Syria will stay in Iraq. The Iraq military said on Tuesday that US forces crossing into Iraq as part of a pull-out from Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit. While Esper initially told reporters the ...
![US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks during the 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Regional Security Summit in the Bahraini capital Manama on December 7, 2013. [AFP]](/sites/default/files/styles/d08_traditional/public/im/iran/454079055.jpg?itok=pPrn3WUN "US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks during the 9th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Regional Security Summit in the Bahraini capital Manama on December 7, 2013. [AFP]")
