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| Donald and Melania Trump see US troops in Iraq in Christmas trip | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have made an unannounced Christmas visit to US troops in Iraq. | |
| They travelled there "late on Christmas night" to thank troops for "their service, their success and their sacrifice", the White House said. | |
| Mr Trump said the US had no plans to pull out of Iraq, Reuters reports. | |
| It comes days after Defence Secretary Jim Mattis quit over disagreements about strategy in the region. | |
| Mr Trump and his wife travelled on Air Force One to al-Asad airbase, west of the capital, Baghdad, to meet military personnel in the base's restaurant. | |
| It is his first visit to the region. | |
| He had planned to spend Christmas at his private club in Florida, but stayed behind in Washington because of the current partial government shutdown. | |
| The US still has some 5,000 troops in Iraq to support the government in its fight against what remains of the Islamic State group. | |
| Mr Trump said the US could use Iraq as a forward base if "we wanted to do something in Syria", Reuters news agency reports. | |
| He defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria during the visit, saying: "A lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking." | |
| He announced the decision to pull US troops out of Syria last week. |