US pullout in Syria focus of coalition talks
WASHINGTON MULLS SETTING UP AN OBSERVATION FORCE IN NORTH
Defence ministers from the US-led coalition fighting Daesh met yesterday in Munich to discuss how to reorganise in Syria after the defeat of the last pocket of militants and the departure of US troops.
Pat Shanahan, the acting US secretary of defence, says he foresees growing the international coalition that has been combating Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
Shanahan said that in Syria, Daesh has lost most of its leadership and resources— though he didn’t say it’s lost 100 per cent of its territory.
Daesh militants are holed up in the last sliver of land in eastern Syria as US-backed forces are closing in.
Shanahan says he envisions an “even bigger and stronger” coalition with a focus on broader threat posed by Daesh, including in Afghanistan and the Philippines. He said there’re currently 79 countries in the coalition.
Around 20 ministers including those from the US, France, Britain, and Germany took part in the meeting.
US forces are the largest contributors by far to the anti-Daesh coalition and their pullout will leave a vacuum in Syria where major powers are jostling for influence.
US President Donald Trump announced the pullout of around 2,000 US troops in December, stunning allies including France and Britain who warned the fight against militants was not finished.
“The withdrawal of US troops from Syria was at the heart of discussions,” said French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly.
“Once Daesh no longer has any territory, the international community will have to guarantee that there will be no resurgence of Daesh in Syria or elsewhere,” she said.
The end of Daesh in Syria is heightening worries about militants escaping and forming new cells elsewhere.
Observation force
Washington’s suggestion of installing an observation force in a buffer zone in Syria’s north has the twin objectives of avoiding a Turkish assault on Kurdish forces and halting any militant resurgence.
“Clearly the coalition with its resources and capabilities is an option,” the acting Pentagon chief, Shanahan, said. “It’s one that we are pursuing and at this stage it’s still being discussed.”
But without US troops on the ground, that option leaves doubts for Western coalition allies like France, which contributes about 1,200 forces in the region.
“It is totally out of the question to have French troops on the ground without the Americans there,” a French government source said.
“It’s just no.”