Months after saying US will withdraw, now 1,000 troops in Syria to stay

[TomSea]

Months after saying US will withdraw, now 1,000 troops in Syria to stay
By Seth J. Frantzman
March 18, 2019

Just months after claiming the US would withdraw from Syria, Washington has now decided to keep up to 1,000 troops in the country. According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal. This is the latest shift in policy which has made the US appear disconnected from realities on the ground in Syria and unable to carve out a clear decision for what the future holds.

In mid-December US President Donald Trump spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and decided to withdraw US forces from Syria. The US had up to 2,000 soldiers in Syria aiding the international Coalition to fight ISIS. The main US partners on the ground are the Syrian Democratic Forces. They had largely liberated eastern Syria from ISIS and surrounded ISIS in an area called Hajin by December. However Turkey views the SDF as linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and had threatened to invade an area in northern Syria held by the SDF. Trump appeared to side with Ankara in his December conversation and sudden decision to withdraw.

The withdrawal changed many calculation in the region. The US had said it would remain in Syria until Iran left the country and it appeared the US would therefore be in eastern Syria for the long term. Trump’s reversal set in motion the resignation of his Secretary of Defense James Mattis and anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk.

Read more at: https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Months-after-saying-US-will-withdraw-now-1000-troops-in-Syria-to-stay-583779