U.S. Troops Leaving Syria to Move to Iraq, Kuwait

Courtesy: MGN

A U.S. official says the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops being withdrawn from northern Syria will reposition in Iraq, Kuwait and possibly Jordan.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning for a U.S. pullout amid heavy fighting between Turkish and Syrian Kurdish forces.

The official says the American troops have pulled out of the Manbij area, where U.S. outposts were set up in 2017. Troops are consolidating their positions to prepare to fly out of the country soon.

The official says U.S. troops based in Iraq could conduct cross-border operations against the Islamic State group in Syria as they did before creating the now-abandoned partnership with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The White House announced a week ago that U.S. forces in northeast Syria would move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish assault, essentially abandoning the Kurds who fought alongside American forces against Islamic State militants.

Earlier, President Trump said the roughly 1,000 U.S. troops he has ordered to leave Syria will remain in the Middle East to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State threat.

In a written statement Monday announcing his authorization of economic sanctions on Turkey, Trump made clear that the withdrawing troops will leave Syria entirely.

He said the troops will "redeploy and remain in the region." He described their mission as "monitoring the situation" and preventing a "repeat of 2014," when IS fighters who had organized in Syria as a fighting force swept into neighboring Iraq and took control of Iraq's north and west.

Earlier he said that he's issuing new sanctions against Turkey, halting trade negotiations and raising steel tariffs in an effort to pressure Ankara to stop its ongoing offensive attack in Syria against Kurdish forces it views as a terrorist threat.

Trump says he soon will sign an executive order permitting sanctions to be imposed on current and former Turkish officials.

Before the invasion, Trump ordered a couple dozen U.S. forces out of harm's way. Critics said Trump's decision gave Turkey a green light to go against the Kurds, who had helped the U.S. battle Islamic State militants.  

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