Mattis exits over Mideast policy split with Trump
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis announced his resignation the day after President Donald Trump decided to pull US troops out of Syria.
![USA-TRUMP/ U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis looks at U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks during a meeting with Medal of Honor recipients in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC143321C440](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2018/12/RTX32M53.jpg/RTX32M53.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=JYYR9vX1)
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis resigned Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw 2,200 American troops from Syria.
His resignation, effective at the end of February, removes one of the last remaining senior officials in the US administration with long-held foreign policy experience in the Middle East and elsewhere.