A State Department official has told Rudaw that the US has no plans to withdraw its troops from Syria.
The US has about 900 troops in eastern Syria and backs the Kurdish-led SDF, allowing Washington to control and occupy about one-third of the country’s territory.
The US claims the occupation is about fighting ISIS remnants, but the continued US presence is more about keeping Damascus and its ally Iran out of the area and controlling oil resources. The occupation is also part of the economic campaign against government-controlled Syria, which includes crippling sanctions that are specifically designed to prevent the country’s reconstruction.
Ethan A. Goldrich, assistant deputy secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said the US wouldn’t leave Syria until its “mission” was completed, referring to the anti-ISIS operations.
“We are not planning to withdraw from Syria. We are planning to continue and complete our mission to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and to counter ISIS and to work with our partners,” Goldrich told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Goldrich also said the US occupation was about “holding the regime accountable,” referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He also reiterated US opposition to regional countries normalizing with Damascus, as Arab nations have accepted that Assad isn’t going anywhere and are re-establishing relations with the Syrian leader.
Earlier this year, reports suggested that the US was considering a Syria withdrawal, but the SDF later said it received assurances from the US that its forces were there to stay. The US also began talks with Iraq about a potential withdrawal this year, but there’s no sign of any progress in that direction.
The US has about 2,500 troops in Iraq that support the US occupation of Syria. Troops in both countries serve as a potential tripwire for a wider war amid regional escalations that are a result of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
Senile Biden's brain dead policy of making trouble everywhere & sending bombs to Nutty Yahoo to genocide the children of Gaza with American two & five thousand pound bombs.
"No plans to withdraw from Syria"? Are there any plans to withdraw from anywhere? Just wonderin'.
Supposedly Niger. But not to worry. The US will invade other countries on any convenient pretext. The msm will whitewash the invasions and Congress will fund them. This has been going on for decades.
Withdrawal plans from Europe to free up resources to send elsewhere, possible not certain and associated with Trump.
Biden thought that he could use Ukraine to weaken Russia. It's working. But Ukraine's army will collapse long before Russia's economy collapses. Europe's economy is already in ruins. The war is costing the US more than it's costing Russia. And, it's just a matter of time before other countries start retaliating with a few sanctions of their own.
NO. It's not working.
Why do you think that Putin replaced General Shoigu with Andrei Belousov, a civilian economist with no military experience as Minister of Defense?
"Biden thought that he could use Ukraine to weaken Russia. It's working." What a ridiculous statement. It is not working and never has. You need to get yourself better informed on Russia's economic forecasts.
Things aren't working well for Ukraine. But team Biden is already working on the next phase, which could replace Ukraine with another country that can be talked into sacrificing itself. Things aren't going well for him in Georgia. But that could change. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, even Finland and Estonia are other potential candidates.
Biden is betting that the strength of the US economy will allow him to outlast Russia's ability to continue funding the war. But at the rate he's spending borrowed money, that may not be the sure thing he thought it would be.
Duane, from this very site:
World Bank Upgrades Russia To High-Income Economy Despite US Sanctions
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/07/03/world-bank-upgrades-russia-to-high-income-economy-despite-us-sanctions/
Russian numbers are about as reliable as Enrons. They are what the Russian government says they are.
They have a war economy.
I did a poor job of expressing my opinion. I know that Russia is doing well. I think the IMF officially certified Russia as the 4th largest economy this year. What I meant to say is that it costs a lot of money to wage war. In my opinion, it is in Russia's best interests to end this war as quickly as possible.
I am reminded of the textbook economic tradeoff of guns vs butter after President Johnson thought we could have both. It caused significant inflation.
You’re probably thinking of some other economic metric than size of economy per the IMF. Last time I saw a ranking by GDP (the measure IMF uses), Russia’s economy was the world’s 11th largest, and IMF projects its GDP growth this year at 3.2%, which is also the global average of IMF-projected growth for the year.
Yes, I hope that they don’t become like the US and exist on a war economy only.
It is working great, Ukraine may not survive but that is a mere detail.
For those who don't know why we have unwanted troops in Syria:
They took the oil… still taking it.
You betcha, we are still stealing oil. We also let Israel use Syria for target practice.
As if Syria Based Hezzies don't use Israel for target practice
Chicken and Egg. What came first? But in this case, history is clear. Zionist (pre-Israeli) aggression, against both Syria and Lebanon, began prior to 1948, and has never ended. "Hezbollah" didn't even exist back then; Hezbollah was a product of the Lebanese civil war, as a Shiite militia in a country where the Shiites had always been the whipping boy of the Druse, the Maronites, and the Sunnis, They formed in 1982, and their charter was clear; Lebanon for the Lebanese, and the spark was the Israeli invasion and their continued occupation of the She'baa farms. Which might be Lebanese territory, or might be Syrian territory (like the rest of the Golan) but sure as Fuck is not, and never was, Israeli territory.
Short answer; Israel created Hezbollah through their illegal activity; so cry me a river. And, Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization, not Syrian.
That is an incredible video, Ty.
Excellent piece, thanks, Carlton.
GTFO
LOL!
exceptional!!!
Does the word ‘occupy’ ring a bell, perhaps?!…..?!
Ask a native american
Then a Palestinian
Any place where we have landed.
Ukraine
I am part Comanche. 😉
Translation: That's what $hitting "Freedom and Democracy" on the hungry Syrian faces looks like.
Looks like Uncle Sam has his dick in the ringer…
Remember they also didn’t have any plans to move out of Niger? As Directer Cecil B. DeMille concluded, it’s all about motivation.
They did go in the end didn't they. Niger is lucky, no oil
They're not going to have a choice shortly. That or they're going to have 2,500 dead US troops in Iraq and another 900 in Syria – plus whatever they add in to support those once the wider war starts in earnest.
The US is about to driven from the Middle East. That and the elimination of Israel is what the current conflict is about. Very few people seem to grasp that.
Macho talk, but to be honest the US military is very very good at killing lots of people very quickly. Your better bet is they get bored and leave.
We live in a crazy and lawless world.
The US government has no right to have troops in a sovereign nation against the wishes of that country's government.
It's in violation of the UN Charter and of basic international law.
The current crop of Western leaders are crooks.
Correct.
I agree with you. "W" made it clear that he doesn't care what the UN thinks, and Biden changes his "rules based order" to mean whatever he wants if to mean.
Current and past.
Bull Crap…! Nothing but Oil and Wheat Thieves…!
Now, now….
"“We are not planning to withdraw from Syria. We are planning to continue and complete our mission to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and to counter ISIS and to work with our partners,” Goldrich told Rudaw on Wednesday" One HUGE pile of manure. ISIS is our private army, the descendant of the group we formed to attack Russia.
considering the US has NO internationally legal right to be in Syria, where are the sanctions against the US?
The U.S won't leave Syria until the "mission is complete." The troops will stay because the mission parameters will merely change to justify the keeping the troops there.
There Are No Plans To Withdraw from Syria… At least the US doesn’t have any.
In Palestine US is "fighting " Hamas. In Syria they are "fighting" SDF /Syrian "Democratic " Forces . In Iraq – it's "ISIS " . In Ukraine "democracy " …. and all those "heroes " bring to us oil and $$$ .
Looks like Russia should help US to make that "mission accomplished " .
Russia has its own strategic interests in Syria. Mainly, the port in the northwestern part of Syria that is Russia's only "warm water" port on the Mediterranean that they have access to.
Russia is there at least at the invitation of the Syrian government. Assad is a bastard, but the others are probably worse. In this matter I suspect the Russians might be doing the right thing.
Plus the Rooskies are a long-time ally of Syria.
They'll probably leave when the oil runs out… as usual
The Nazis never wanted to withdraw from their military operations either.
Aren't they stealing the oil while they are there?