More Syrian rebels leave suburb

Trump says decision coming on pulling out American troops

BEIRUT — A new group of Syrian rebels and their family members left their stronghold near Damascus on Tuesday, heading to the rebel-held north as part of an agreement with the Syrian government and its Russian backers.

State-run Syrian television broadcast footage that showed several buses leaving the town of Douma. It said those on board were fighters and family members belonging to the Army of Islam, the largest rebel group in eastern Ghouta.

The Saudi-backed group, which has deep roots in the region, has held firm in recent weeks as virtually all the other insurgents of eastern Ghouta have reached deals to relocate to the rebel-held north, leaving Douma as the only remaining rebel holdout.

The first Army of Islam fighters began evacuating Douma on Monday, headed to Jarablus, a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkish troops and allied Syrian forces. The rebels refused to say, however, whether they had surrendered.

It is also unclear whether all of the Army of Islam fighters have agreed to leave and how long the evacuations will take. The group is estimated to command 10,000 fighters in the town, and has a formidable arsenal of tanks and other heavy weaponry.

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the Army of Islam is divided over whether to evacuate Douma, with hard-liners demanding they stay and fight.

The Russian military said Tuesday that 1,100 Syrian rebels and their family members had evacuated from Douma in two dozen buses in the previous 24 hours.

Douma was one of the earliest hubs of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in 2011.

The deal struck between the Army of Islam and the Russian military marks the end of a weekslong push by the Syrian government to consolidate its control of the suburbs.

In Washington, meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he wants American troops to leave Syria soon and will make a decision “very quickly” on how much longer they will stay, as his administration’s policy on Syria’s seven-year civil war remains in limbo.

“I want to get out, I want to bring the troops back home, I want to start rebuilding our nation,” Trump said Tuesday during a news conference at the White House with leaders of Baltic nations. He added that “our primary mission” of fighting the Islamic State terrorist group is “almost completed.”

As the Islamic State loses most of its self-proclaimed caliphate, the U.S. is losing its only professed reason to keep troops on the ground and send airstrikes into the maelstrom in Syria. Yet Pentagon officials have made it clear they have no desire to pull out and enable Assad and his allies Russia and Iran to seal their victory.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, didn’t directly address Trump’s talk of pulling out troops soon in comments Tuesday at a conference in Washington. But he made clear that he saw a continuing role for the military in helping to stabilize Syria.

“I very much see us in that position right now,” said Votel, who commands U.S. forces in the Mideast, including those in Syria and Iraq.

From the start of Trump’s campaign for the White House, he called for an “America First” foreign policy based on avoiding costly conflicts and nation-building exercises. At a rally in Ohio last week, Trump said “we’re knocking the hell out of” the Islamic State and predicted a U.S. departure from Syria “very soon.” He added at the time, “Let other people take care of it now.”

Trump expanded on that theme Tuesday, saying Saudi Arabian officials have encouraged a continued U.S. presence but that he’s told them, “If you want us to stay, maybe you” will have to pay the U.S. for the troops.