U.S. military says its exit is underway

BEIRUT >> The U.S. military said Friday that it has begun withdrawing from Syria, initiating a drawdown that has blindsided allies and is likely to spark a scramble for control of the areas that American troops will leave.

U.S. forces have “begun the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria,” read a statement from the U.S.-led coalition. “Out of concern for operational security, we will not discuss specific timelines, locations or troop movements.”

Defense Department officials said initial withdrawals would be limited to equipment, and that no troops had yet departed. Additional U.S. forces and air and sea assets stationed elsewhere in the region are expected to assist with the operation. Senior administration officials continued to insist that the departure would not undermine U.S. goals in Syria, including the final defeat of the Islamic State and preventing its resurgence, protecting Syrian Kurdish allies that Turkey has vowed to attack as soon as the Americans leave, and forcing Iran to withdraw its own forces and proxy fighters.

But there was little indication of how those objectives, which White House national security adviser John Bolton outlined during a visit to Ankara this week, would be achieved.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a lengthy tour of nine Arab capitals, said Friday that the United States and Poland plan to host a “global ministerial on Mideast peace” next month in Warsaw, attended by “dozens of countries from around the world.”

“We will build out the global coalition” with countries “from Asia, from Africa, from Western Hemisphere countries, Europe too, the Middle East of course,” Pompeo said in a Fox News interview in Egypt. Particular focus, he said, would be on “making sure that Iran is not a destabilizing influence.”