Trump move to pull US troops from Syria opens way to turmoil
BEIRUT — The United States’ Kurdish allies had been gearing up for a new fight for weeks, digging trenches and defence tunnels in northeastern Syria in preparation for an offensive Turkey’s president warned was imminent.
On the ground, U.S. troops were bringing in reinforcements through the border with Iraq, beefing up patrols and observation points to prevent friction between the Turks and their Kurdish partners.
Then, in a surprise announcement, President Donald Trump declared he was pulling all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, declaring the Islamic State group had been vanquished. The move, conveyed in a tweet Wednesday, plunged the volatile region into profound uncertainty, leaving America’s only allies in Syria in the lurch.
The U.S. forces “were as surprised as we were” by the White House decision, said Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.