'I don't think it's necessary, other than that we secure the oil,' Pres. Trump says when asked about leaving U.S. troops in Syria. 'We have a good relationship with the Kurds ... we never agreed to protect the Kurds for the rest of their lives.”
Even as American forces make a hasty and chaotic withdrawal from northeastern Syria, the U.S. is considering leaving some troops behind to secure oil fields in the region and make sure they don't fall into the hands of a resurgent Islamic State, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday.
Still, the fact that such a plan was under consideration was another sign the administration was still trying to sort out its overall strategy amid fierce criticism from the president's Republican allies of his abrupt decision to pull U.S. forces back — essentially clearing the way for Turkey's military incursion into the border region to push back the American-allied Kurdish forces.
While Trump has insisted he's bringing home Americans from"endless wars" in the Mideast, Esper said all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue operations against the Islamic State group. The Republican president declared this past week that Washington had no stake in defending the Kurdish fighters who died by the thousands as America's partners fighting in Syria against IS extremists. Turkey conducted a weeklong offensive into northeastern Syria against the Kurdish fighters before a military pause.
Trump ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Kurdish forces that Turkey considers terrorists.
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Defense chief: US troops leaving Syria to go to western IraqDefense Secretary Mark Esper says that under the current plan all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence. Speaking to reporters traveling with him to the Middle East, Esper did not
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U.S. troops leaving Syria for western Iraq, Defense chief Esper saysAll of the nearly 1,000 U.S. troops withdrawing from northern Syria will head to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Islamic State militants, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said late Saturday.
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Defense chief: U.S. troops leaving Syria to go to western Iraq
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Defense chief: US troops leaving Syria to go to western IraqDefense Secretary Mark Esper says that under the current plan all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq, and the military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent a resurgence in that country.
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