The statement appears to contradict US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has said that under the current plan, all US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the military would continue to conduct operations against ISIS terrorists to prevent their resurgence in the region.

On Tuesday, Esper said he plans to talk to Iraqi leaders to work out details about the US plan to send American troops withdrawing from Syria to Iraq, adding that the US has no plans to have those troops stay in Iraq “interminably.”

Speaking to reporters at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Esper said he’ll have a discussion with the Iraqi defense minister on Wednesday. He said the aim is to pull US soldiers out and “eventually get them home.”

President Donald Trump ordered the bulk of US troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists.

The pullout largely abandons the Syrian Kurdish allies who have fought the Daesh group. Between 200 and 300 US troops will remain at the southern Syrian outpost of Al-Tanf.

Angered at feeling betrayed, some residents in areas populated predominantly by Kurds in both Syria and Iraq have pelted the withdrawing troops. On Monday, a US convoy that was driving down an avenue in the Kurdish-dominated city of Qamishly was pelted with potatoes.

“Like rats, America is running away,” one man shouted in Arabic at the vehicles.

Near the Iraqi city of Irbil, a small group of young men threw stones at a convoy of US armored vehicles, shouting obscenities as it drove down a main highway, according to a video circulating online.

In a statement, the Iraqi Kurdish regional government said the positive role played by US-led coalition forces in northern Iraq, protecting and assisting its residents, should not be confused with an “unpopular political decision” that has been taken — a reference to Trump’s sudden move to withdraw troops from Syria.

The number of American forces in Iraq has remained small due to political sensitivities in the country, after years of what some Iraqis consider US occupation during the war that began in 2003. It is a potentially explosive issue.

The US currently has more than 5,000 American forces in Iraq, under an agreement between the two countries. The US pulled its troops out of Iraq in 2011 when combat operations there ended, but they went back in after ISIS began to take over large swaths of the country in 2014.

After the Iraqi government announced victory against ISIS in 2017, calls for an American troop withdrawal increased amid concerns about America’s long-term intentions, particularly after it withdraws its troops from Syria.

Earlier this year, Trump angered Iraqi politicians and some factions by arguing he would keep US troops in Iraq and use it as a base to strike ISIS terrorist group targets inside Syria as needed. In February, he infuriated Iraqi leaders when he said US troops should stay in Iraq to monitor neighboring Iran.

Earlier this week, Esper did not rule out the idea that US forces would conduct counterterrorism missions from Iraq into Syria. But he said those details will be worked out over time.

His comments were the first to specifically lay out where American troops will go as they leave Syria and what the counter-ISIS fight could look like. Esper said he has spoken to his Iraqi counterpart about the plan to shift the estimated 1,000 troops leaving Syria into western Iraq.

The statement by the Iraqi military, however, said that all American troops that withdrew from Syria have permission to enter northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and then from there to be relocated out of Iraq.

“These forces do not have any approval to remain in Iraq,” it said. The statement did not specify a time limit for how long the troops can stay there.

Meanwhile, US troops continued to pull out of northern Syria. Reports of sporadic clashes have continued between Turkish-backed forces and the Syria Kurdish forces despite a five-day cease-fire agreement hammered out on Thursday between US and Turkish leaders.

Esper has said the troops going into Iraq will have two missions.

“One is to help defend Iraq and two is to perform a counter-ISIS mission as we sort through the next steps,” he said. “Things could change between now and whenever we complete the withdrawal, but that’s the game plan right now.”

“A convoy of approximately 55 vehicles entered Ras al-Ayn and a convoy of 86 vehicles departed in the direction of Tal Tamr,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday, also releasing what it said were pictures of the evacuation in civilian vehicles.

Turkish military forces and militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), who enjoy Ankara’s patronage, on October 9 launched a cross-border invasion of northeast Syria in a declared attempt to clear Kurdish militants from the so-called People’s Protection Units (YPG) from border areas, Presstv Reported.

Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.

The Syrian government has condemned the offensive as an act of aggression.

On Thursday, and after talks with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara, Turkey agreed to halt its Syria offensive for five days to allow the YPG militants to pull out of the border area. The Turkish government says it will end the operation altogether provided that the militants are completely cleared from the zone.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also threatened to resume the offensive if the militants fail to pull out.

“There are absolutely no impediments to the withdrawal” of Kurdish militants and “the activities of exiting and evacuation from the region are firmly coordinated with the US counterparts,” further said Turkey’s Defense Ministry.

Separately, a Turkish soldier was killed earlier on Sunday in an attack by Kurdish militants in the Tal Abyad border area, the ministry added.

Turkey and the Kurdish militants have also accused each other of violating the newly-reached agreement.

Ankara accuses the Kurdish militants of conducting 22 attacks since the deal. The Defense Ministry said close coordination was underway with US military officials on the issue.

Ankara says it abides by the ceasefire agreement, urging the US to use its leverage to ensure the YPG militants’ pullout.

“Since we reached this agreement with the American delegation, we have been committed to this deal. Our president has ordered our troops to maintain their positions and not engage with anybody,” said Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin in an interview with AFP.

Meanwhile, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said on Sunday that the YPG militants had completely pulled out of Ras al-Ayn.

The meeting of Russia’s high-ranking delegation and Iran FM assistant dealt with the latest developments in Syria, especially northeastern Syria and Turkey’s military action in the area, IRNA reported.

Both sides stressed the need for maintaining unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria and called for stopping military actions immediately and settlement of differences through diplomacy.

The officials also reviewed the situation in Yemen and developments surrounding Astana Process and establishment of Constitution Committee, stressing the need for Syrian people decide their own future away from any foreign interference.

Russia’s high-ranking delegation