The White House’s announcement Thursday that it will keep a “small peacekeeping group” of about 200 troops in Syria “for a period of time” is welcome news to both the United States’ Kurdish allies and its Turkish foes.
Why it matters: The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and America’s European allies have long argued that a hasty US withdrawal would allow the Islamic State to stage a comeback, encourage Turkey to take further hostile action against the Kurds and bolster the influence of the Bashar al-Assad regime, Russia and Iran. Abdulkarim Omar, an SDF-linked politician, said Donald Trump’s apparent about-turn “could encourage other countries to stay in this area to preserve the stability and preserve peace and security and to stop the Turkish threats on this area.”
