The US military is readying plans to keep 1,000 American troops in Syria — a development that comes three months after President Trump announced he wanted a full withdrawal, according to a report Suꦺnday.
The Trump administration’s talks with Turkey, European allies and US-backed Kurdish fighters haven’t resulted in an agreement to create a safe zone in the country’s northeast, where the Kurds are fighting Islamic State terrorists, .
After Trump’s December announcement, Turkey threatened to cross the border into Syria and attack the Kurds, whom Ankara accuses of being a terrorist group.
The US will nowܫ continue to work with🐬 the Kurds, meaning that as many as 1,000 American troops will remain in Syria.
Trump’s initial decision to remove the roughly 2,000 troops prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis and criticism from bipartisan lawmakers who accused the president of pulling out before ISIS had been defeated.
Members of Trump’s national security team continued to press the president to get assurances from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to attack the Kurds after the US withdrawal. After Erdogan refused to do so, Trump decided to keep some troops in Syria.
The larger troop contingent is a nod toward the ability of ISIS to regroup, the report said, a♒dding that US officials estimate that up to 20,000 armed fighters of the extremi🥂st group are spread out around the world, including many in sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria.