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Congress rebukes Trump over lack of Syria policy

Congress called out the Donald Trump administration for failing to provide lawmakers with a US strategy for the conflict in Syria.
Syrian army soldiers ride on a motorbike at a damaged site in al-Hajar al-Aswad, Syria May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC17435C2220

Even after the State Department appeared to patch up the US row with Turkey in Syria this week, Congress is getting increasingly fed up with the Donald Trump administration’s failure to provide legislators with a strategy for the war-torn country.

In a report accompanying the Senate’s must-pass annual defense authorization bill, lawmakers this week called out the Pentagon for “inconsistency” in its plan for Syria. US defense officials say that 2,000 US troops will stay there indefinitely, until the Islamic State (IS) is rooted out, despite President Donald Trump’s insistence that American forces leave the country “very soon.”

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