All American troops to pull out of Syria
THE TRUMP administration will soon withdraw all of the approximately 2,000 American troops from Syria, a US official said Wednesday as President Donald Trump declared victory in the mission to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants there.
Planning for the pullout has begun and troops will begin leaving as soon as possible, said the official, who was not authorised to publicly discuss military planning and spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, as Vice-President Mike Pence met with top military leaders in the Pentagon, Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”
That declaration of victory is far from unanimous. The decision will fulfil Trump’s long-stated goal of bringing troops home from Syria, but military leaders have pushed back, arguing that the IS group remains a threat and could regroup as it battles in Syria’s long-running civil war.
Trump has argued for the withdrawal since he was a presidential candidate. But the decision underscores the division between him and his military advisers, who have said in recent weeks that pockets of IS militants remain, and US policy has been to keep troops in place until the extremists are eradicated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains concerned about Iranian efforts in the area, reacted in noncommittal fashion after talking with Trump by telephone.
MANNER OF WITHDRAWAL
“This is, of course, an American decision,” he said. Israel will learn of the timetable and manner of withdrawal, he said, and no matter what, “we will safeguard the security of Israel and protect ourselves from this arena”.
Leading Republican senators reacted with displeasure to the news.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, typically a Trump backer, said he was “blindsided” by the report and called the decision “a disaster in the making”. He said, “The biggest winners in this are ISIS and Iran.”
Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said the withdrawal would be a “grave error with broader implications” beyond the fight against IS.
Just last week, the US special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, said US troops would remain in Syria even after the Islamic State was driven from its strongholds.
“I think it’s fair to say Americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate, until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeat is enduring,” McGurk told reporters on December 11. “Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished. Defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer-term campaign.”
And two weeks ago, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US still has a long way to go in training local Syrian forces to prevent a resurgence of IS and stabilise the country. He said it will take 35,000 to 40,000 local troops in northeastern Syria to maintain security over the long term, but only about 20 per cent of them have been trained.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said in September that the US would keep a military presence in Syria as long as Iran is active there. “We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders, and that includes Iranian proxies and militias,” he said.