US withdrawal has been slowed
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said yesterday that the US military withdrawal from north-eastern Syria was conditioned on defeating the remnants of the Islamic State (IS), and on Turkey assuring the safety of Kurdish fighters allied with the US.
Bolton, who travelled to Israel to reassure the US ally of the Trumpordered withdrawal, said there was no timetable for the pull-out of US forces in north-eastern Syria, but insisted it was not an unlimited commitment.
Bolton’s comments mark the first public confirmation that the drawdown has been slowed, as Trump faced widespread criticism from allies and the resignation of Defence Secretary Jim Mattis for a policy that was to have been conducted within weeks.
Trump announced in mid-December that the US would withdraw all of its 2 000 forces in Syria. Trump’s move has raised fears over clearing the way for a Turkish assault on Kurdish fighters in Syria, who fought alongside US troops against IS extremists.
Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, a terrorist group linked to an insurgency within its own borders.
Bolton, set to travel on to Turkey today, said the US was insisting that its Kurdish allies in the fight against IS were protected from any planned Turkish offensive. He was to deliver a warning to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week. Trump has stated that he would not allow Turkey to kill the Kurds, Bolton said.
Bolton said the US has asked its Kurdish allies to “stand fast now” and refrain from seeking protection from Russia or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. “I think they know who their friends are,” he said, speaking of the Kurds.
Bolton said US troops would remain at the critical area of al-Tanf, in southern Syria, to counter growing Iranian activity in the region. He defended the legal basis for the deployment, saying it’s justified by the president’s constitutional authority, adding, “I’m a strong believer in Article II”.
The US was also seeking a “satisfactory disposition” for about 800 IS prisoners held by the US-backed Syrian opposition, Bolton said, adding that talks were ongoing with European and regional partners about the issue.
Bolton was to meet Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to discuss the pace of the US drawdown, US troop levels in the region, and the US commitment to push back on Iranian regional expansionism. Bolton was expected to explain that some US troops based in Syria to fight IS would shift to Iraq with the same mission, and that the al-Tanf base would remain.
Bolton was also to convey the message that the US was “very supportive” of Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in Syria, according to a senior official.
Yesterday Bolton also toured the ancient tunnels beneath the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. |