ISTANBUL — The White House ordered the immediate withdrawal of American soldiers from Syria after President Donald Trump declared victory over the Islamic State on Twitter Wednesday, ceding major diplomatic ground after Turkey’s president promised an offensive against a US-allied Syrian Kurdish militia.
“We have defeated [IS] in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” the American president wrote. Administration officials said US forces based in Syria’s northeast would leave straight away, and his spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, confirmed their departure was already happening.
The decision, which was derided by members of Trump’s Republican Party, comes just two days after Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Trump had responded positively to his threat to invade Syrian territory controlled by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which fought alongside the United States against the Islamic State. Turkey considers the militia a terror organization for its links to Kurdish insurgents who have waged a three-decade armed campaign for autonomy within Turkey.
Trump had informed Erdogan he would pull out troops during a phone call on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week. The withdrawal of US personnel from Syria will take 60 to 100 days, Reuters reported.
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