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Pentagon drafting plans to withdraw all US troops from Syria: report

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The US Defense Department is developing plans to withdraw all US troops from Syria, two US defense officials told NBC News on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump and officials close to him recently expressed interest in pulling US troops out of Syria, the officials said, leading Pentagon officials to begin drawing up plans for a full withdrawal in 30, 60 or 90 days.

Last Thursday a reporter asked Trump at an Oval Office media event about reports that he had informed the Israeli government about pulling US troops out of Syria.

“I don’t know who said that. I mean, I don’t know who said that, but we’ll make a determination on that. We’re not getting, we’re not involved in Syria,” Trump replied. “Syria is its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t need us involved in everyone.”

In late 2019 Trump withdrew most US troops from Syria but subsequently moved them back, and the US presence in Syria has continued since then. The Pentagon says the military mission in Syria is to degrade the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremist group and support local partners operating there. They include the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led coalition of militias and rebel groups, to ensure that ISIL cannot rebuild a safe haven.

Ankara views the SDF’s dominant faction, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States and the European Union have designated as a terrorist organization.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly called for an American withdrawal, arguing that US troops in Syria provide protection for Kurdish factions that Turkey considers a national security threat.

Thus, a US exit would give Ankara greater freedom to escalate operations against Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast.

Damascus’s new rulers have rejected any form of Kurdish self-rule and urged the SDF to hand over their weapons.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who paid his first visit to Ankara on Tuesday following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, tried to ease Turkey’s safety concerns stemming from the presence of Kurdish militant groups in northern Syria.

Al-Sharaa said Turkey and Syria were “working together on … a joint strategy to confront security threats in the region” to ensure the safety of both countries.

He also said they had discussed “threats that prevent territorial unity in northeastern Syria” in a clear reference to the SDF.

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