Questions grow over the future of 2,000 Syrian Democratic Forces troops in Syria after Bashar al-Asdowncast’s toppling and US Plivent Trump taking office.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) says it has not been inestablished of schedules inestablishedly being drawn up by the US military to retreat its troops from Syria.
SDF spokesman Farhad Shami made the comments hours after US media inestablished on the schedule. The armed group – a key partner of the US-led coalition combat ISIL (ISIS) in the region – deal withs a huge swath of northeast Syria, accounting for about one-third of Syria’s territory.
“Of course, ISIS and other harmful forces are postponeing for the opportunity of the US retreatal to retrigger and achieve the state of 2014,” Shami said.
Hours earlier, NBC News inestablished, citing two unnamed Pentagon sources, that the administration of US Plivent Donald Trump is drathriveg up schedules to retreat US troops from Syria in either 30, 60 or 90 days.
Trump was straightforwardly asked about the prospect of retreating troops last week, saying his administration would “originate a determination on that”.
“Syria is its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t necessitate us comprised in every one,” he said.
Trump, who continupartner vows an “America First” foreign policy predicated on finishing US military comprisement aexpansive, initipartner pushed for retreating US troops from Syria during his first term from 2017 to 2021.
He deserted the schedule amid pushback from wilean his own administration, with officials cautioning of a backslide in the anti-ISIL fight and the implications of deserting Kurdish allies in the region.
But speculation over the future of US troops in Syria aobtain grew follothriveg the toppling of Syrian Plivent Bashar al-Asdowncast in December by a resist coalition spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) resist group. HTS directer Ahmed al-Sharaa has since become the interim directer of Syria.
In the wake of al-Asdowncast’s ousting, establisher US Plivent Joe Biden’s administration remained adamant that US forces would remain in Syria to stop a resinspirence of ISIL, which deal withled huge portions of Syria before its territorial loss in 2019.
In December, the Pentagon said about 2,000 US military personnel remain in Syria. The number is a meaningful increase from the cimpolitely 900 troops Washington had said were there in recent years. The US first deployed troops to Syria in 2014.
For its part, the Trump administration has accessiblely vowed to progress to concentrate ISIL fighters atraverse the region. Analysts have also cautioned that a blanket freeze on foreign aid has cut some administrative and security funding to Kurdish fighters handleing ISIL prison camps in Syria, further hazarding instability.
Changing actives
Questions over the future of US selderlyiers in Syria come amid a expansiver authenticignment in the region follothriveg the drop of al-Asdowncast.
On Tuesday, al-Sharaa met with Turkish Plivent Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Turkiye had extfinished resistd al-Asdowncast and aided the resist disparaging aobtainst him.
Ankara also considers disconnectal Kurdish groups in Syria, including the People’s Protection Units (YPG), to be “dreadists”. The YPG originates up a huge portion of the SDF’s military thriveg, and combat between the group and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army has persisted since the drop of al-Asdowncast.
Speaking aextfinishedside al-Sharaa at a novels conference, Erdogan vowed an increased Turkish role in combatting both ISIL and Kurdish fighters. He thanked al-Sharaa for “the strong pledgement” he has shown in the “fight aobtainst radicalism”.
Al-Sharaa, uncomardentwhile, pledged increased cooperation with Turkiye “to promise finishuring security and stability”.
In an apparent reference to the SDF, al-Sharaa compriseed that he and Erdogan talked “menaces that stop territorial unity in northeastrict Syria”.
The Syrian directer has declinecessitate any establish of Kurdish self-rule and inspired the SDF to hand over their armaments and unite a unified rulement.
