BICOM

US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that the US will withdraw its forces from Syria.

Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” In a subsequent video, Trump said: “We’ve won against ISIS. We’ve beaten them and we’ve beaten them badly. We’ve taken back the land. And now it’s time for our troops to come back home.”

An official said the decision to withdraw the 2,000 US forces in Syria came after a phone call between Trump and his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday. “Everything that has followed is implementing the agreement that was made in that call”, the official said. A  Pentagon spokesman said the Defence Department had “started the process” of bringing troops home.

Trump’s announcement differed from statements by his own special envoys to Syria and the counter-Islamic State coalition, who have said that defeating the last organised ISIS pockets in southern Syria, near the Iraqi border, could be months away and that thousands of militants remained underground throughout Syria, waiting to re-emerge. Just three months ago, National Security Advisor John Bolton confirmed that American troops would not be withdrawn from Syria until all Iranian forces and proxies were gone. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has listed Iran’s withdrawal from Syria as one of 12 preconditions for removing sanctions. US Middle East policy analysts criticised Trump’s announcement for abandoning Kurdish allies and giving a green light for Turkey, Iran and Russia to pursue their interests at will.

Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tweeted that: “Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake.” He added: “With all due respect, ISIS is not defeated in Syria, Iraq, and after just returning from visiting there – certainly not Afghanistan.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “This is, of course, an American decision … In any case we will take care to maintain the security of Israel and to defend ourselves in this area.”

UK Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood responded to Trump’s tweet saying: “I strongly disagree. It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive.” A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Since military operations began, the coalition and its partners in Syria and Iraq have recaptured the vast majority of Daesh territory and important advances have been made in recent days in the last area of eastern Syria which Daesh has occupied. But much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose.”