“We are 7000 miles away and will crush ISIS again if they come anywhere near us!”Ī DOD official said Esper and Milley were in contact over the weekend with the president and the White House national security team, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. “It is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home,” Trump tweeted. He acknowledged the Kurds’ role in the Islamic State fight but said they “were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so.” In a series of tweets Monday, Trump doubled down on the decision and promised to bring U.S. “It was surprising for everyone,” he added. troops have left the border area from Tell Abyad to Ras al-Ain, and Turkey is “on the ready,” Hendi said. Ahed Al Hendi, an analyst close to the Syrian Democratic Council, the political arm of the SDF, said the State Department reassured the group’s leader in a phone call ahead of the White House announcement that Turkey would not attack the Kurds. The move also caught the Kurds off guard. “The entire DOD leadership was opposed to the endorsement and the withdrawal.” “We were concerned, but we didn’t think would give in,” said the official. Senior Pentagon leaders were unanimous in opposing the move, said one senior administration official who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive discussions. and Turkish militaries were making progress setting up a security mechanism on Turkey’s border with northeast Syria, continuing joint patrols that began last month. ![]() Just last week, Esper told reporters the U.S. Mark Milley “reiterated to their respective Turkish counterparts that unilateral action creates risks for Turkey.”īut officials say the decision caught the Pentagon by surprise. “The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey–as did the President–that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman, noting that Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. But administration officials pushed back on the characterization that the White House statement endorses Turkish military action. troops out of the way is broadly seen as Trump giving Erdogan a green light to move into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area,” according to a White House statement. “Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. ![]() defense officials had sought to maintain a small American presence in the region to continue operations against the Islamic State terrorist group and safeguard the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against repeated threats of a Turkish invasion.īut their recommendations seem to have fallen on deaf ears. troops have now left the border area after the abrupt shift in policy, which came after a phone call between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this weekend. President Donald Trump on Sunday endorsed a Turkish military operation into northern Syria, paving the way for a bloody assault on the Kurdish minority population there and a possible resurgence of the Islamic State. Defying the advice of top defense officials, U.S.
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