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US Syria pullout draws praise from Putin and Kurdish condemnation US Syria pullout draws Kurdish condemnation and Putin's praise
(35 minutes later)
The surprise White House decision to withdraw US forces from Syria has drawn praise from Russian president Vladimir Putin and condemnation from the Kurdish-led force that has done most of the ground fighting against Islamic State in its Syrian strongholds. The Kurdish-led force that has led the ground war against Islamic State in Syria has condemned the surprise White House decision to withdraw US troops from the country and claimed it will spark a revival of the terror group.
“If the USA made that decision, then it’s the right one,” Putin said during a nationally-televised press conference on Thursday. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a proxy of Kurdish and Arab units raised by Washington specifically to fight Isis, said the Trump administration’s move will have “dangerous implications for international stability”.
The Russian president repeated complaints that US troop deployments in Syria were “illegal” because they hadn’t been agreed upon with the Assad government. Putin added that he agreed with Donald Trump that a “serious blow” had been struck against Isis, saying: “Donald is right, I agree with him.” The planned US pullout was announced as Turkey was preparing to send its military into Syria to confront Kurdish militias that it says threaten its sovereignty. The US-backed Kurds are drawn from the same Kurdish groups – a point that has caused friction between Ankara and Washington throughout the four year campaign against Isis.
Russia is a key ally of Assad, and its military intervention beginning in 2015 turned the tide of the war in his favour. The SDF and the YPG, a partner Kurdish militia, described the move as a “blatant betrayal”. One Kurdish leader contacted by the Guardian said the fight against Isis in far eastern Syria would be abandoned immediately, and all SDF units on that front would redeploy closer to the Turkish border.
The response from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces struck the opposite tone. Any US withdrawal would allow an Isis revival and threaten the battle in eastern Syria, with “dangerous implications for international stability”, the SDF said. The SDF responded to the announcement with a blunt statement. “The war against Islamic state has not ended and the Islamic State has not been defeated,” it said. Any withdrawal would also “create a political and military vacuum in the area, leaving its people between the claws of hostile parties”.
The SDF, the US-led coalition’s main military partner on the ground, are being threatened with a cross-border offensive from Turkey, which sees them as indistinguishable from Kurdish Workers’ party militants inside Turkey. US support for the SDF has strained ties between the two allies. Other Kurdish leaders said the mooted abandonment would cause damage to Kurdish movements elsewhere in the region.
“The war against Islamic state has not ended and the Islamic State has not been defeated,” the SDF statement said. Any withdrawal would also “create a political and military vacuum in the area, leaving its people between the claws of hostile parties”, it added.
Kurds in northern Syria said commanders and fighters met into the night, discussing their response to Wednesday’s surprise announcement, widely seen as an abandonment of a loyal ally.
“We have every right to be afraid,” Arin Sheikmos, a Kurdish journalist and commentator, told Associated Press. “If the Americans pull out and leave us to the Turks or the [Syrian] regime, our destiny will be like the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991. Neither the regime, nor Iran nor Turkey, will accept our presence here.”“We have every right to be afraid,” Arin Sheikmos, a Kurdish journalist and commentator, told Associated Press. “If the Americans pull out and leave us to the Turks or the [Syrian] regime, our destiny will be like the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991. Neither the regime, nor Iran nor Turkey, will accept our presence here.”
Donald Trump’s order on Wednesday for a full, rapid withdrawal of over 2,000 US troops in Syria, and his declaration of victory over Isis, left Pentagon and state department officials scrambling to interpret an abrupt change in course from the US policy decided over the summer. At that point the policy was to keep forces in Syria to ensure the “enduring defeat of Isis” and act as a bulwark against Iranian influence. The Russian president Vladimir Putin, whose military intervened in the Syrian war in 2015, turning the tide in favour of the Assad regime, by contrast welcomed the US move.
On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency” – a claim at odds with his own administration’s assessments. In August this year, the Pentagon assessed there were still as many as 14,500 Isis fighters still in Syria. “If the USA made that decision, then it’s the right one,” Putin said during a nationally-televised press conference on Thursday, repeating complaints that US troop deployments in Syria were “illegal” because they hadn’t been agreed upon with the Assad government. He said he agreed with the US president that a “serious blow” had been struck against Isis, saying: “Donald is right, I agree with him.”
Trump defended his decision on Thursday morning, tweeting: “Getting out of Syria was no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months ago, when I very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer.” Trump’s order on Wednesday for a full, rapid withdrawal of over 2,000 US troops in Syria, and his declaration of victory over Isis, left Pentagon and state department officials scrambling to interpret an abrupt change in course from the US policy decided over the summer. At that point the policy was to keep forces in Syria to ensure the “enduring defeat of Isis” and act as a bulwark against Iranian influence.
He added: “Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there work. Time to come home & rebuild.” The move appeared to blindside Trump’s most senior officials, many of whom were invested in an ongoing partnership with the SDF after the Isis fight, primarily to counter Iran, which remains the dominant driver of US policy in the region.
Both the UK and France have troops in Syria and the UK’s junior defence minister, Tobias Ellwood, rejected Trump’s claim that Isis had been defeated in Syria. “I strongly disagree. It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” Ellwood said in a tweet. Throughout the Syrian war, Turkey has prioritised managing Kurdish ambitions in Syria, and potential implications for its own Kurdish populations, above all else. Ankara sees the YPG in Syria as indistinguishable from Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) militants inside Turkey. Though Syria’s Kurds say they have no interest in full autonomy, and the PKK has said it no longer aspires to an independent state, Ankara views the militant groups as dangerous subversives who threaten its borders.
Reuters quoted a US official as saying the troop pullout would take between 60 and 100 days. Behind the scenes, the Pentagon leadership was still trying to persuade the president to accept a managed, more gradual withdrawal, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
An abrupt US withdrawal would mean abandoning the Syrian Democratic Forces, Washington’s closest ally inside Syria.
Last week, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey was on the verge of launching a military operation against the Kurds in northern Syria. Long frustrated by US support for Kurdish militias that Turkey views as terrorists, Erdoğan has threatened to push deeper into north-eastern Syria since sending Turkish forces into the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in February.
Has Isis been defeated in Syria, as Trump claims?Has Isis been defeated in Syria, as Trump claims?
Paramount for Turkey is countering any claims by the Kurds for autonomy and stopping any momentum stemming from their successful campaign against Isis, which it fears may amplify the Kurdish insurgency inside its own borders. On Wednesday morning, days after speaking by phone with Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump tweeted: “We have defeated Isis in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency” – a claim at odds with his own administration’s assessments. In August this year, the Pentagon assessed there were still as many as 14,500 Isis fighters still in Syria.
Washington and Ankara have been at odds throughout the US partnership with the Kurds, and Erdoğan has repeatedly threatened to send his forces to confront its Nato ally. The UK’s junior defence minister, Tobias Ellwood, rejected Trump’s claim. “I strongly disagree. It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” Ellwood said in a tweet.
Ties have been further strained by Donald Trump’s firm backing of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Turkey accuses of ordering the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. On Thursday, Trump defended his announcement, tweeting: “Getting out of Syria was no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years … Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there [sic] work. Time to come home & rebuild.”
Trump’s outreach to Turkey also appears motivated by efforts to ease pressure on the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the CIA and Erdoğan accuse of ordering the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Erdogan has piled pressure on Riyadh ever since, and has aimed to oust the young heir to the Saudi throne - a key ally of the Trump White House, and a regional bulwark against Iran.
KurdsKurds
Islamic StateIslamic State
SyriaSyria
Middle East and North AfricaMiddle East and North Africa
Trump administrationTrump administration
US foreign policyUS foreign policy
TurkeyTurkey
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