This announcement comes after a telephone conversation between Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart. The departure of thousands of soldiers will take place in the coming weeks.
A few weeks after the announcement by Donald Trump of the withdrawal of US troops, the United States will eventually maintain nearly 200 soldiers in Syria „for a time,“ told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Sarah Sanders, spokesman for the US executive, without further details. This announcement came after a telephone conversation between Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The departure of the American soldiers from Syria (the contingent is 2,000 men) should intervene in the coming weeks, while the Islamic State (IS) group is about to be defeated in its last reduction in Syria.
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„We won against the EI group, it’s time to go back,“ Donald Trump said on Dec. 20, to the amazement of US allies and some elected officials of his own side. „Our boys, our young women, our men, they all go home, and they all go back now,“ he added.
Coalition refuses to be an „observer force“
European countries have openly criticized this American decision taken without prior consultation. „Is it a good idea for Americans to withdraw suddenly and quickly from Syria? Asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week, saying that this could reinforce the country’s influence in Russia and Iran, Washington’s sworn enemy.
While pledging to continue counterterrorism operations, Washington urges its allies in the international anti-IS coalition to form an „observer force“ in northeastern Syria to ensure the security of Syrian Kurdish allies, who led on the ground fighting against jihadists in Syria and are threatened by Ankara.
The American proposal, however, was rejected by coalition members, including Paris and Berlin.
