The White House has confirmed US troops are being withdrawn from Syria, after President Trump said the Islamic State (IS) group had been “defeated” there.
The Trump administration said the US stood ready with its allies “to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary”.
Some 2,000 troops have helped rid much of north-eastern Syria of IS, but pockets of fighters remain.
It had been thought defence officials wanted to maintain a US presence.
Just a few days ago, Brett McGurk, Mr Trump’s special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat IS, said: “Nobody is saying that [IS fighters] are going to disappear. Nobody is that naive. So we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas”.
But President Trump promised earlier this year that US troops would leave Syria “very soon”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1075397797929775105
The confirmation of the withdrawal comes after Turkey said it was preparing to launch an operation against a US-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria, something that risks confrontation with the US.
