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Trump plans full withdrawal of US troops from Syria Trump plans full withdrawal of US troops from Syria
(about 1 hour later)
The Trump administration is planning a full withdrawal of US forces from northeastern Syria, as it nears the end of its campaign to retake all of the territory once held by Islamic State. Donald Trump is reported to have ordered a full, rapid withdrawal of the 2,000 US troops in Syria, declaring victory over the Islamic State, and taking allies and his own advisers by surprise.
On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” After several US news reports on Wednesday morning reported defence officials as saying the decision had been made, Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”
We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.
Such a withdrawal would upend the vital US partnership with a Kurdish proxy, the SDF, which has diminished, but not defeated Isis. About 2,500 members of the terror group are confined to its last redoubt along the Iraqi/Syrian border, and the US military fears the remaining extremists – all battle-hardened veterans – will be able to flee their strongholds. Soon afterwards, the White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, put out a statement saying that troop withdrawal marked the start of the “next phase” in the struggle with Isis, and suggested they could return if necessary.
“Five years ago, Isis was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate,” Sanders said. “These victories over Isis in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign.
“The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support and any means of infiltrating our borders.”
Trump has called for immediate withdrawal before, but had previously been persuaded by allies and his advisers to stay on to finish the fight against Isis and to contain Iran. His own administration believes that Isis still has a residual but significant presence inside Syria.
French president Emmanuel Macron had made it a national priority to persuade the US president to keep troops in Syria as a bulwark against an Isis resurgence, and thought he had won the argument.
Trump’s own national security adviser, John Bolton, is adamantly opposed to the decision, for different reasons. At the UN general assembly in September Bolton declared: “We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders and that includes Iranian proxies and militias.”
Isis withdraws from last urban stronghold in SyriaIsis withdraws from last urban stronghold in Syria
The Pentagon opposes the pullout, which has been flagged by Donald Trump at least twice during the past year. However, the US leader has been adamant in recent days that the fight against Isis is over, and troops need to return home. Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican senator who is a Trump loyalist on most issues, denounced the decision.
It was not immediately clear how Trump’s overarching goal of containing Iran was consistent with pulling out of Syria completely. A large US base at Tanf near the Iraqi border has been used as a buffer against Iranian proxies who covet the area as a land corridor linking iran to Damascus. “If these media reports are true, it will be an Obama-like mistake made by the Trump administration,” Graham said in a statement. “While American patience in confronting radical Islam may wane, the radical Islamists’ passion to kill Americans and our allies never wavers.
The calculation of senior White House officials seems to be that Turkey could act as a foil to Iranian ambitions in north-eastern Syria. Not opposing a Turkish incursion into the area would be seen as a significant gesture to Ankara, which prioritises deterring Kurdish militant groups from gaining traction from the war in Syria above all other aspects of the seven-year war. “After visiting Syria earlier this year, it is abundantly clear the approximately 2,000 American troops stationed there are vital to our national security interests.”
Turkey insists that the Kurdish forces the Americans have partnered with since 2014 are ideologically aligned to the PKK, with whom it has fought a four decade insurgency inside Turkish borders. The defence secretary, James Mattis, had also argued against a sudden withdrawal, arguing the troops served a vital national interest by maintaining the offensive against residual Isis pockets and a signal of intent not to cede Syria to Iranian control.
On Wednesday morning, the Pentagon spokesman, Colonel Rob Manning, put out a terse statement: “At this time, we continue to work by, with and through our partners in the region.”
A large US base at Tanf near the Iraqi border has been used as a buffer against Iranian proxies who covet the area as a land corridor linking Iran to Damascus. An evacuation of that base would signal a decision that maintaining that buffer was no longer a national security priority.
US militaryUS military
SyriaSyria
US foreign policyUS foreign policy
TurkeyTurkey
Middle East and North AfricaMiddle East and North Africa
Islamic StateIslamic State
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