The White House confirmed on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump had traveled to Iraq to visit U.S. troops there.

White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders tweeted that "President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas."

This was Trump's first visit with U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East region since he assumed presidency in 2017. The United States reportedly has some 5,000 troops in Iraq.

The White House said on Wednesday last week that it had started returning U.S. troops home from Syria after claiming a victory in the fight against the Islamic State.

Trump tweeted on Thursday that Defense Secretary James Mattis would retire "with distinction" at the end of February, but changed his decision on Sunday by saying that he had picked Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan as the acting Pentagon chief.