US saved thousands in Syria, Trump claims
President claims to have saved ‘thousands’ of lives as troops pull out of war zone leaving US partners in peril
The United States has saved the lives of “thousands” of people in Syria, Donald Trump claimed last night. In a bombastic speech, he declared the end of American involvement and took credit for the ceasefire, a day after Turkey and Russia brokered a deal for Kurdish-held north-east Syria. In a statement reminiscent of George W Bush’s famous “mission accomplished” speech of 2003, Mr Trump declared the US was done fighting other people’s wars.
DONALD TRUMP last night claimed the United States had saved the lives of “thousands” in Syria and took credit for the ceasefire, in a bombastic speech declaring the end of American involvement in the war.
“This is an outcome created by us, the US, and nobody else,” he said as he addressed reporters at the White House, a day after Turkey and Russia brokered a deal for Kurdish-held north-east Syria – without the US president.
Mr Trump tacitly gave his approval for a Turkish-led offensive along the Syrian border two weeks ago when he moved US forces out of the area, effectively abandoning Kurdish fighters who had helped defeat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
International condemnation followed as hundreds of thousands of civilians fled the violence and more than 80 Syrian civilians were killed. Mr
Trump imposed sanctions on Ankara in response to its offensive but announced yesterday they would be lifted if the ceasefire held. “We’ve avoided another costly military intervention, many thousands of people could have been killed,” he added.
In a speech reminiscent of George W Bush’s famous “mission accomplished” statement of 2003 when he announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq, Mr Trump, flanked by Mike Pence, the vice-president, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, declared the US was done fighting other people’s wars.
“Turkey, Syria and all forms of the Kurds have been fighting for centuries. We have done them a great service, a great job for all of them,” he said.
“We’re getting out. Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand.”
His claims of success bore little resemblance to the reality on the ground, but were most likely intended for his US supporters as he had promised to halt “endless wars”.
He pledged in future to deploy American ground troops only when a situation served the national interest of the US and when there was a plan to win. “We will only win,” he said.
Mr Trump’s declaration came a day after a deal was struck between Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, to allow the Kurdish YPG, a militia which Turkey regards as a terrorist group, to pull back from the border.
The agreement will also see Turkey preserve a “safe zone” inside Syria about 75 miles long and 20 miles deep where it wants to resettle Syrian refugees.
The deal effectively redraws the map of northern Syria and ends nearly six years of autonomy carved out by the local Kurdish administration.
Russian and allied Syrian government forces yesterday began patrolling the towns where US forces were once stationed. Trucks bearing Russian flags were filmed driving into Kobane, marking the first time military supporters of President Bashar al-assad’s regime had had a presence in the area in more than seven years.
The talks, which took place in Mr Putin’s country home in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, confirmed Moscow’s position as power broker in Syria.
“The United States has been the Kurds’ closest ally in recent years.
“In the end, it abandoned the Kurds and, in essence, betrayed them,” Dmitri Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said yesterday.
“Now they [the Americans] prefer to leave the Kurds at the border and almost force them to fight the Turks.”
Meanwhile, Mark Esper, US secretary of defence, was in Baghdad yesterday to meet Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Iraqi prime minister, to manage the fallout of US forces’ quick retreat.
Kurdish residents threw rotten fruit at US military vehicles and held up signs reading “we will not forget this betrayal” as the bulk of America’s 1,000 troops left Syria on Monday.
The Pentagon had announced the soldiers were expected to move to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Isil and “to help defend Iraq”.
But it appeared the move was not initially approved by Baghdad, which issued a statement saying they did not have the right to remain in the country.
Mr Esper was told he had 30 days to remove the troops.
In a separate development yesterday, a Syrian-kurdish man set himself on fire outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
He was taken to hospital and survived his injuries but his motivation was unclear.