Jerusalem
U.S. Syria pullout in question: The Trump administration has walked back the president’s surprise announcement of a pullout of all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. Trump pledged an immediate withdrawal of personnel from Syria last month, saying that ISIS had been defeated and there was no need for a U.S. presence. James Mattis resigned as defense secretary in protest over the move, arguing the pullout would jeopardize the fight against ISIS, betray America’s Syrian-Kurdish allies, and gift eastern
Syria to the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian backers. But during a visit to the Middle East this week, national security adviser John Bolton insisted there was no timeline for the pullout. He told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it will only happen after all remnants of ISIS are gone and Turkey has pledged not to attack America’s Kurdish allies, who have borne the brunt of the fight against ISIS. Trump tweeted that the plan was “no different from my original statements.”
In Turkey, an angry President Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a planned meeting with Bolton, saying Trump’s security adviser had “made a serious mistake.” Erdogan said the Turkish army would “soon move to eliminate terror groups in Syria”—a reference to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkey considers the mostly Kurdish militia an affiliate of the PKK, a terrorist group that has fought for an independent Kurdish homeland in southern Turkey. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, embarked this week on a trip to eight Middle Eastern nations to emphasize the U.S. commitment to containing Iran in Syria and throughout the region.