United States to withdraw troops from Syria

Donald Trump has ordered US troops out of Syria despite Pentagon warnings it could allow IS to re-emerge.

The United States is preparing to withdraw its troops from Syria, a major move that throws into question America's role in the region. Picture: Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Donald Trump has ordered the withdrawal of all US troops from Syria despite warnings from his own national security advisers that it could allow Islamic State to re-emerge.

The move will see the departure of more that 2000 US troops in the country within 30 days, creating a power vacuum which is likely to be exploited by Russia and Iran.

But Mr Trump, who has wanted to withdraw US troops from Syria for many months and who campaigned on the issue in 2016, said the fight against ISIS had been won and there was no longer any need for US forces to remain.

“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he tweeted.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the US had now defeated the Islamic State’s “territorial caliphate” which the group first claimed in 2014.

“We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign,” she said.

Mr Trump made the decision despite efforts by his Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his national security advisers to persuade him to leave the troops in Syria for longer.

Mr Mattis warned the president that a rapid withdrawal could risk allowing ISIS to make a comeback in the region.

We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018

As recently as September, Mr Mattis said: “Getting rid of the caliphate doesn’t mean you then blindly say, ‘Okay, we got rid of it,’ march out, and then wonder why the caliphate comes back.”

Only last week, Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the coalition fighting ISIS, said US troops needed to stay in Syria longer to help train Syrian fighters to ensure the permanent defeat of ISIS.

“The military mission is the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Mr. McGurk said. “We have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past, so we know that once the physical space is defeated, we can’t just pick up and leave. So we’re prepared to make sure that we do all we can to ensure this is enduring.”

The move will inject further uncertainty into Syria where Russia, Iran, the US and Turkey are engaged in a proxy battle to exert influence in the country which has suffered a devastating seven year civil war.

The withdrawal also threatens the future of the Kurdish partner forces which have fought alongside US troops in defeating ISIS on the battlefield.

The alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, called the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF, have been important allies for the US but are opposed by Turkey which fears Kurdish forces becoming too powerful in northern Syria.

Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw the US troops came only days after a phone call with Turkish president Recep Erdogan in which Mr Erdogan warned that he planned to launch an offensive against the SDF.

Mr Trump told his national security team that he feared US troops could be at risk if Turkey launched its threatened offensive into northern Syria.

Mr Trump’s national security advisers have warned that the departure of US troops would allow both Russia and Iran to increase their influence over Syria to the detriment of US interests.

But the president is wary of US military involvement in never-ending wars and has been critical of the long US military involvement in Afghanistan although he has so far refrained from ordering those troops home.

A convoy of US armoured vehicles near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij. Picture: Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Mr Trump’s decision was criticised by several prominent Republicans who warned about the revival of militants in Iraq following Barack Obama’s decision to end the military mission there.

“A lot of us were blindsided,” Mr Graham said of the decision to withdraw.

“If Obama had done this, all of us would be furious. If Obama had done this, we’d be going nuts right now: ‘How weak, how dangerous.’”

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia