WarSclerotic

Is it America’s responsibility to police the Middle East, US President Donald Trump asked as he defended his decision to begin pulling US troops out of Syria early Thursday morning.

“Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight,” he asked.

“Getting out of Syria was no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months ago, when I very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer. Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there work. Time to come home & rebuild,” Trump said.

“Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us,: Trump said.

“I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!,” he said.

Trump’s announcement on Wednesday upended a central pillar of American policy in the Middle East and stunned U.S. lawmakers and allies, who challenged the president’s claim of victory.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by roughly 2,000 U.S. troops, are in the final stages of a campaign to recapture areas seized by Islamic State militants.

But they face the threat of a military incursion by Turkey, which considers the Kurdish YPG fighters who spearhead the force to be a terrorist group, and possible advances by Syrian forces – backed by Russia and Iran – committed to restoring President Bashar al-Assad’s control over the whole country.

After three years of fighting alongside U.S. forces, the SDF said the battle against Islamic State had reached a decisive phase that required more support, not a precipitate U.S. withdrawal.

Western allies including France, Britain and Germany also described Trump’s assertion of victory as premature.

Officials said France will keep its troops in northern Syria for now because Islamic State militants have not been wiped out and pose a threat to French interests.

“For now, of course we are staying in Syria because the fight against Islamic State is essential,” Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau said.

France has about 1,100 troops in Iraq and Syria providing logistics, training and heavy artillery support as well as fighter jets. In Syria it has dozens of special forces, military advisers and some foreign office personnel.

A British junior defense minister said on Wednesday he strongly disagreed with Trump. “(Islamic State) has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” Tobias Ellwood said in a tweet.

Neighboring Turkey, which has threatened an imminent military incursion targeting the U.S.-allied Kurdish YPG fighters in northern Syria, has not commented directly on Trump’s decision, although an end to the U.S.-Kurdish partnership will be welcomed in Ankara.

Kurdish militants east of the Euphrates in Syria “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes”, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported Defense Minister Hulusi Akar as saying.

Amos Yadlin, Executive Director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) wrote on Twitter,  that the US withdrawal was most likely part of a “drive to decrease US presence and casualties, the US people’s fatigue from the nation’s long wars, but perhaps mainly what looks like a “grand deal” with Turkey.”

“Trump’s decision embolden its rivals which are committed to the region on the long term: Russia, Iran, Assad and ISIS.

“Such abrupt US turns, seen by many as betraying its Kurdish partners in the war on ISIS, undermines the US’ reputation and credibility,” Yadlin wrote on twitter.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Is it America’s responsibility to police the Middle East, US President Donald Trump asked as he defended his decision to begin pulling US troops out of Syria early Thursday morning.

“Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight,” he asked.

“I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!,” he said.

Trump’s announcement on Wednesday upended a central pillar of American policy in the Middle East and stunned U.S. lawmakers and allies, who challenged the president’s claim of victory.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by roughly 2,000 U.S. troops, are in the final stages of a campaign to recapture areas seized by Islamic State militants.

But they face the threat of a military incursion by Turkey, which considers the Kurdish YPG fighters who spearhead the force to be a terrorist group, and possible advances by Syrian forces – backed by Russia and Iran – committed to restoring President Bashar al-Assad’s control over the whole country.

After three years of fighting alongside U.S. forces, the SDF said the battle against Islamic State had reached a decisive phase that required more support, not a precipitate U.S. withdrawal.

Western allies including France, Britain and Germany also described Trump’s assertion of victory as premature.

Officials said France will keep its troops in northern Syria for now because Islamic State militants have not been wiped out and pose a threat to French interests.

“For now, of course we are staying in Syria because the fight against Islamic State is essential,” Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau said.

France has about 1,100 troops in Iraq and Syria providing logistics, training and heavy artillery support as well as fighter jets. In Syria it has dozens of special forces, military advisers and some foreign office personnel.

A British junior defense minister said on Wednesday he strongly disagreed with Trump. “(Islamic State) has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” Tobias Ellwood said in a tweet.

Neighboring Turkey, which has threatened an imminent military incursion targeting the U.S.-allied Kurdish YPG fighters in northern Syria, has not commented directly on Trump’s decision, although an end to the U.S.-Kurdish partnership will be welcomed in Ankara.

Kurdish militants east of the Euphrates in Syria “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes”, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported Defense Minister Hulusi Akar as saying.

Amos Yadlin, Executive Director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) wrote on Twitter,  that the US withdrawal was most likely part of a “drive to decrease US presence and casualties, the US people’s fatigue from the nation’s long wars, but perhaps mainly what looks like a “grand deal” with Turkey.”

“Trump’s decision embolden its rivals which are committed to the region on the long term: Russia, Iran, Assad and ISIS.

“Such abrupt US turns, seen by many as betraying its Kurdish partners in the war on ISIS, undermines the US’ reputation and credibility,” Yadlin wrote on twitter.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The United States will likely end its air campaign against Islamic State in Syria when it pulls out troops, US officials said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump defended the planned withdrawal against criticism from allies abroad and at home.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who had opposed Trump’s decision on Syria, abruptly announced on Thursday he was resigning after meeting with the president. In a candid letter to Trump, the retired Marine general emphasized the importance of “showing respect” to allies.

NATO allies France and Germany said Washington’s change of course on Syria risks damaging the fight against Islamic State, the militant group that had seized swathes of Iraq and Syria but has now been squeezed to a sliver of Syrian territory.

Several of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress, joined by opposition Democrats, urged the president to reverse course, saying the withdrawal would strengthen the hand of Russia and Iran in Syria and enable a resurgence of Islamic State.

Trump, however, gave no sign of changing his mind and lashed out at Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who is sometimes an ally of the president but who has said a withdrawal would have “devastating consequences” for the United States.

“So hard to believe that Lindsey Graham would be against saving soldier lives & billions of $$$,” Trump tweeted. “Why are we fighting for our enemy, Syria, by staying & killing ISIS for them, Russia, Iran & other locals? Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!”

Trump’s troop announcement on Wednesday upended a pillar of American policy in the Middle East and caused consternation in domestic and foreign critics who argued it would make it harder to find a diplomatic solution to Syria’s seven-year civil war.

It also appeared to add momentum to Trump’s long-stated goal of extricating the United States from its 17-year war in Afghanistan. US officials told Reuters on Thursday that the administration is planning to significantly draw down thousands of the 14,000 troops now in Afghanistan, where Mattis has argued for a strong US military presence.

France, a leading member of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, said it would keep its troops in northern Syria for now and contested Trump’s assertion that the group has been defeated in the country.

“Islamic State has not been wiped from the map nor have its roots. The last pockets of this terrorist organization must be defeated militarily once and for all,” French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Twitter.

France has about 1,100 troops in Iraq and Syria providing logistics, training and heavy artillery support as well as fighter jets. In Syria it has dozens of special forces, military advisers and some foreign office personnel.

Trump, however, tweeted that he was fulfilling a promise to leave Syria made during his presidential campaign and arguing that the United States was doing the work of other countries and it was “time for others to finally fight.”

Four US officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the troop withdrawal is expected to mean an end to the US air campaign against Islamic State in Syria. The US-led air war has been vital to crushing the militants there and in neighboring Iraq, with more than 100,000 bombs and missiles fired at targets in the two countries since 2015.

Still, one US official said a final decision on the air campaign had not been made and did not rule out some kind of support for partners and allies.

The United States told the UN Security Council it was committed to the “permanent destruction” of Islamic State in Syria and would keep pushing for the withdrawal of Iranian-backed forces in the country.

The roughly 2,000 US troops in Syria, many of them special forces, were ostensibly helping to combat Islamic State but were also seen as a possible bulwark against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has retaken much of the country from his foes in the civil war, with military help from Iran and Russia.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have been fighting Islamic State with US support for three years, said the withdrawal of troops would let the militants regroup at a critical stage and leave Syrians stuck between “the claws of hostile parties” fighting for territory in the civil war.

The SDF are in the final stages of a campaign to recapture areas seized by the militants.

But they face the threat of a military incursion by Turkey, which considers the Kurdish YPG fighters who spearhead the force to be a terrorist group, and Syrian forces committed to restoring Assad’s control over the whole country.

The SDF said the battle against Islamic State had reached a decisive phase that required more support, not a precipitate US withdrawal.

Islamic State declared a caliphate in 2014 after seizing parts of Syria and Iraq. The hardline group established its de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa, using it as a base to plot attacks in Europe.

According to US estimates, the group oversaw about 100,000 square kms (39,000 square miles) of territory, with about 8 million people under its control and estimated revenues of nearly $1 billion a year.

A senior US official last week said the group was down to its last 1 percent of the territory it once held. It has no remaining territory in Iraq, although militants have resumed insurgent attacks since the group’s defeat there last year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he largely agreed with Trump that the group had been defeated in Syria but added there was a risk it could recover.

He also questioned what Trump’s announcement meant in practical terms, saying there was no sign yet of a withdrawal of US forces, whose presence in Syria Moscow calls illegitimate.

Israel will escalate its fight against Iranian-aligned forces in Syria after the withdrawal of US troops, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

While Turkey has not commented directly on Trump’s decision, an end to the US-Kurdish partnership will please Ankara.

Kurdish militants east of the Euphrates in Syria “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes,” state-owned Anadolu news agency reported Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying.

Turkey has intervened to sweep YPG and Islamic State fighters from parts of northern Syria that lie west of the Euphrates over the past two years. It has not gone east of the river, partly to avoid direct confrontation with US forces.