US officials had already made a big deal of withdrawing from northern Syria, but President Trump on late Saturday has finally ordered a full withdrawal from the area, covering about 1,000 troops that were still in potential combat areas.
Among the troops withdrawing were the personnel in a US base at Ayn
al-Issa. Turkish forces were approaching the area, and had cut off US
supply lines by seizing the highway. Keeping the base at that point
seemed no longer feasible.
That the Pentagon is reporting this new order covers 1,000 troops in
northern Syria is interesting, as just days ago the US claimed to have
only 15-100 troops left there, when they came under fire from Turkish
artillery. Even before that, Trump claimed the US had only ever had 50
troops there in the first place, as to downplay the pullback.
It is not clear from the reports where these 1,000 troops are going,
though so far there is no indication that the US is actually leaving
Syria. Rather, it is likely they’ll just move deeper south, as to give
Turkey more room to operate.
With Turkey moving its troops deeper into Syria, and Syria’s Army advancing into
the area to resist them, the fight could get very complicated very
quickly. The US clearly doesn’t want to get directly involved, though
these slow, incomplete pullouts mean the US is also determined to keep a
toehold in the country.
Trump Orders US Troops to Withdraw From Northern Syria
Turkey cuts supply lines, forcing US to abandon base
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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