The United States has reportedly decided to station 4,000 American troops to Kuwait after withdrawing them from neighboring Iraq by the end of the year, Press TV reported.
A 4,000-soldier US army Brigade Combat Team will be deployed from Iraq to Kuwait as a reserve force, commanders of the unit said on its Facebook page, AFP reported on Thursday.
Earlier this month, US officials said the Pentagon hoped to shift at least 4,000 soldiers from Iraq to Kuwait at the end of the year, pending a final decision by military planners and Kuwaiti leaders.
According to posts from a commander and command sergeant major in the unit, the troops will complete their 12-month tour, which began in Iraq in mid-July 2011, in Kuwait.
The US already has around 23,000 soldiers in the oil-rich Persian Gulf emirate.
Commenting on the news of the relocation of US troops, Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential religious and political leader in Iraq, said last Thursday that the US plans to station troops across the Middle East region, a move that amounts to occupying other Islamic countries.
"America is not only occupying Iraq but also other Islamic countries," Sadr said.
He added, "Occupying Iraq means occupying what is around Iraq, and then to control the Middle East."