Countries react to Iraqi troop withdrawal demand

NATO said Tuesday it would take "some personnel" out of Iraq because of the increased risk to their safety after the US killed a top Iranian general there.

The withdrawal is temporary but "the safety of our personnel is paramount", a NATO official said. The military alliance announced on Saturday it had suspended its training mission in Iraq.

"We are taking all precautions necessary to protect our people. This includes the temporary repositioning of some personnel to different locations both inside and outside of Iraq," a NATO official told Reuters.

The NATO official emphasised that "NATO maintains a presence".

The alliance plans to resume its training there "when the situation permits".

He declined to give details on how many personnel were being moved or to where.

Other countries, including Slovakia and Croatia, also said they were relocating from Iraq soldiers involved in a NATO training mission. Romania's defence ministry said separately that its 14 soldiers taking part in the NATO deployment "will be temporarily relocated to another coalition base".

Chief of Canada's defence staff say that some Canadian troops based in Iraq will be moved to Kuwait for safety reasons.

While, UK Defence Minister Wallace says the UK will respect Iraqis request for troops to leave the country. "We are ... trying to get them to say that it's in your best interest for us to remain," Wallace told parliament. "(But) we will respect Iraqi sovereignty. If they require us to leave, that is their right and we will respect it."

Germany moved 35 soldiers serving in Iraq to neighboring Jordan and Kuwait Tuesday.

Germany's Defense Ministry said its 32 soldiers stationed at Taji were flown overnight to the Azraq air base in Jordan, where German planes helping in the fight against the Islamic State group are based. Three soldiers in Baghdad were taken along with colleagues from other countries to Kuwait by the headquarters of the anti-I.S. Operation Inherent Resolve, it added.These forces can be moved back at any time if training in Iraq resumes," the ministry said in a statement.

"Our soldiers are staying in the region and the mission is being kept in place for now, even though it is suspended this week pending further consultation," Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker with Chancellor Angela Merkel's party who is on the parliament's foreign affairs committee, told Deutschlandfunk radio.

Germany had already ordered its soldiers in Taji and Baghdad not to leave their bases after the killing of Soleimani last week near the Baghdad airport.

However, France has "no intention" of withdrawing its troops in Iraq, a French government source told AFP Tuesday.

France has contributed around 200 soldiers to the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State insurgency group, of which 160 are tasked with training Iraqi military personnel, according to the defence ministry.