Trump says ISIS beaten in Syria

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has declared victory over Islamic State and said the US would withdraw its troops from Syria.

“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he tweeted yesterday.

Officials later said the US was preparing a withdrawal of its forces as soon as in the next month, while it was reported all State Department staff would be called back to the US in the next 24 hours.

Pulling out of Syria was an election promise for Mr Trump but there is not consensus that ISIS has been defeated and the suddenness of his announcement has been slammed.

Critics said the move would further empower Russia and Iran, which support Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Trump-supporting Republican Senator Lindsay Graham described the move as “a huge Obama-like mistake”.

“A withdrawal at this time would be a big win for ISIS, Iran, Bashar al Assad of Syria, and Russia,” Mr Graham said.

“I fear it will lead to devastating consequences for our nation, the region, and throughout the world.”

A senior administration official said the withdrawal did not signal the end of US involvement in the region.

“We are under no illusions that that means ISIS writ-large has – or the scourge of Sunni radical terrorism has in some way gone away,” he said.

“It’s a fight in which we will … remain engaged with our coalition partners. I will point out that ISIS is active throughout the region. We have had attacks in the last 36 hours.”

Allies in northeastern Syria were yesterday informed by US officials of the plan.

“The Pentagon has an order to move troops out of Syria as quickly as possible,” a US official said in a briefing.

The official confirmed some

I FEAR IT WILL LEAD TO DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR NATION, THE REGION, AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

SENATOR LINDSAY GRAHAM

regional leaders, including Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, were not informed.

“The President made his own decision. It was not something he discussed with President Erdogan,” he said.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had discussed the withdrawal recently with Mr Trump and Secretary of State Jim Mattis.

“We will study the timeline, how it will be done,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will make sure to maintain Israel’s security and protect ourselves in this arena.”

The US troops in Syria are tasked with teaching local forces how to counter ISIS.