U.S. Syria withdrawal will revive Islamic State, Kurdish-led force says
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria will allow Islamic State to regroup at a critical stage in the conflict, Washington's Kurdish partners said on Thursday, after Western allies expressed alarm at the sudden move.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said President Donald Trump's withdrawal of all U.S. troops would also leave Syrians stuck between "the claws of hostile parties" fighting for territory in the seven-year-old war.
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 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 and Britain 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.
Islamic State declared a caliphate in 2014 after seizing large swathes 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 U.S. estimates, the group oversaw about 100,000 square kms (39,000 square miles) of territory, with about 8 million people under Islamic State control. It had estimated revenues of nearly $1 billion a year.
A senior U.S. 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 Islamic State had been defeated in Syria, but added there was a risk it could regroup.
He also questioned what Trump's announcement would mean in practical terms, saying there was no sign yet of a withdrawal of U.S. forces whose presence in Syria Moscow says is illegitimate.
Israel will continue to act "very aggressively against Iran's efforts to entrench in Syria," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
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 Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying.
Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
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 U.S. forces.
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What does Russia have on our President? This shit is scary. There is something going on that has our President rattled and wanting to appease Russia.
I think part of it is getting his ass kicked by Nancy Pelosi, and now he wants to prove he can do whatever he wants.
I think it's deeper than that. He owes Putin something and the devil has called his marker in. Things are starting to unfold quickly now and Trump knows when the Dems get in office they are going to be subpoenaing his tax returns. Let's not forget that there are others looking into his businesses and his money man is cooperating with immunity.
Vlad's tightening the screws to get what he wants while Trump's still President.
That's my thinking. This decision coupled with several other actions taken by this President/Administration reeks of Kompromat
They've got a shit load of kompromat on the 'president' It's a shit storm!
I swore I'd never underestimate the stupidity and acquiescence of right wing voters again, but I can't help but feel that a significant number of Trump supporters are going to finally see the light here.
On second thought, scrap that, they will somehow rationalize this away too...
I think you are right. I don't think they'd waiver even when Russia rolls their tanks down Pennsylvania Avenue. They'll still say Trump was the best American President the country had before being invaded and taken over.
This is like the ''border wall'' he made a promise to his base and he will do his best to make it come to pass, regardless of the consequences.
I just don't what to think but I'm sure some kind soul will tell me.
On the one hand, I'm glad he's pulling forces out of Syria. I never understood why Obama deployed forces there in the first place. On the other hand, I feel like trmp is taking orders from Putin.
This war seems like a 3 way tug of war. You have Assad fighting the SDF and ISIS fighting both of them at the same time. I'm sure I'm wrong.
I do think we need to continue to protect the Kurds. Turkey can kiss my ass
I heard today that Turkey's leader , Erdogan, wanted this, and Trump does business in Turkey and has two "Trump Towers" there.
This might be the first time that I have ever disagreed with you.
Think about it: He did this without the advice or knowledge of his advisers and military leaders (remember that his 'generals are the best generals' and he was more than happy to let them make their own decisions...). When you combine this idiocy with his decision last Friday to ease sanctions against Russia, it becomes clear who wears the pants in the Putin/Trump love affair. Either we've been sold down the river over one hell of a pee video, or there is an astronomical amount of money to be made by the Trump Organization.
I'm about to backtrack now. I've been getting sound advice from the smart people here at NT.
I think we need to stay.
Good. We shouldn't have been there in the first place. The liberal hypocrisy about the issue is fascinating though.
Not so fast Mr. Cerenkov. Please be more explicit with your opinion. Include your thoughts, setting aside whether the original decision was right or wrong, how this withdrawal will not create devastating results.
And no, you can't blow anything up. Geesh - you atomic engineers are always looking for the biggest boom.
The most likely reason for this is it is a distraction from all Trump's problems with the investigations.
Evidently the military and the foreign policy officials of the US are completely against Trump's decision to leave Syria. In other words he made the decision completely on his own without input from others. That being the case we can assume it is for selfish reasons. His big problem is the investigations, and this is a desperate attempt to get that off the front of the news.
I just saw this on twitter, and it is very curious.
....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. I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!
"now they will have to fight ISIS"
The rationale for bringing US troops home is supposedly because ISIS has been defeated.
I think this subject is a little too important for Trump to think he can just do his usual talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Trump is off his rocker.
Why would we try to help Russia, Iran, Syria & many others become the most powerful military in the world. Wouldn't that put the US at risk?
PJ, you are pretty smart. Can you explain why Trump would say we are leaving Syria because ISIS has been defeated , and then tweet that Russia , Iran and Syria can fight ISIS on their own. ?
I am at a loss. I have no good answer
I do! I do!
trmp is a moron?
Br’er Putin pleaded, “Oh, Br’er Trump, go ahead and drown me then, just so long as you don’t throw me into that briar patch!”...
I need to sign off for a couple hours. I don't want to lock this seed so I'm looking for a seed surrogate in my absence.
Please let me know in the next 10 minutes if anyone is able to monitor this seed in my absence. You can send me a note via private chat otherwise I will have to lock this seed.
Sorry.......
I'm sorry to say that I will have to lock this seed. No one volunteered to monitor for me.
I remember another President being criticized about leaving a vacuum in the volatile middle east.
Has the middle east become a stable, paradisaic utopia all of a sudden?
It is true, I don't watch tv, yet I try to keep up with the news. But I missed that whole peace in the middle east thing.
When did that happen?
Will all of the gamooks who slammed Bush for declaring "Mission Accomplished" have the cajones to say the same about this. Of course not.
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