12-19-2018, 01:27 PM
Trump Declares Victory over ISIS and Orders U.S. Troop Withdrawals
The White House has confirmed US troops are being withdrawn from Syria, after President Trump said the Islamic State (IS) group had been "defeated" there.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the US troops had already begun to return home. Some 2,000 troops supporting the Kurds have helped rid much of north-eastern Syria of IS, but pockets of fighters remain.
It is thought defense officials wanted to maintain a US presence to ensure IS did not rebuild. There are also fears it will cede influence in Syria and the wider region to Russia and Iran.
The Pentagon has so far refused to publicly comment, but Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who sits on the armed services committee, called it a "huge Obama-like mistake".
The withdrawal announcement contradicts a statement just a few days ago by Brett McGurk, Mr Trump's special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat IS.
McGurk suggested American troops were not going anywhere. "Nobody is saying that [IS fighters] are going to disappear. Nobody is that naive. So we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas," he said.
The confirmation of the withdrawal comes after Turkey said it was preparing to launch an operation against a US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria, something that risks confrontation with the US.
President Trump's decision reverses the official lines of both the Pentagon and the State Department and it places Washington's Kurdish allies in greater jeopardy.
More: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46623617
The White House has confirmed US troops are being withdrawn from Syria, after President Trump said the Islamic State (IS) group had been "defeated" there.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the US troops had already begun to return home. Some 2,000 troops supporting the Kurds have helped rid much of north-eastern Syria of IS, but pockets of fighters remain.
It is thought defense officials wanted to maintain a US presence to ensure IS did not rebuild. There are also fears it will cede influence in Syria and the wider region to Russia and Iran.
The Pentagon has so far refused to publicly comment, but Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who sits on the armed services committee, called it a "huge Obama-like mistake".
The withdrawal announcement contradicts a statement just a few days ago by Brett McGurk, Mr Trump's special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat IS.
McGurk suggested American troops were not going anywhere. "Nobody is saying that [IS fighters] are going to disappear. Nobody is that naive. So we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas," he said.
The confirmation of the withdrawal comes after Turkey said it was preparing to launch an operation against a US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria, something that risks confrontation with the US.
President Trump's decision reverses the official lines of both the Pentagon and the State Department and it places Washington's Kurdish allies in greater jeopardy.
More: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46623617