Democrats draw red line on Trump’s new Syria policy
Congressional Democrats are fuming over the Donald Trump administration’s plan to use US military forces in Syria as a curb on President Bashar al-Assad and Iran.
Already frustrated with the Donald Trump administration’s refusal to provide concrete details on US military activity in Syria, congressional Democrats today firmly rebuked the president’s plan to further expand American troops’ mandate beyond fighting the Islamic State (IS).
Several congressional Democrats are accusing the administration of exceeding its legal mandate following Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s Wednesday announcement that the 2,000 or so US soldiers in Syria will remain in the country to counter President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian backers.
“I’m gravely concerned that what Secretary Tillerson mentioned is an open-ended and unstructured commitment to Syria rather than a clear strategy,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Chris Coons, D-Del., told Al-Monitor.
Coons went on to note that the new policy comes as the Trump administration has called for a 30% cut to the State Department and development assistance, which he said could inhibit stabilization and reconstruction efforts.
