U.S. Forces Begin Withdrawing From Syria by Ben Hubbard by Ben Hubbard – New York Times
The United States began withdrawing its troops from Syria on Friday, an American military spokesman said, a first step in President Trump’s plan to remove American forces from one of the Middle East’s most complex battlefields.
The surprise announcement came in a statement from Col. Sean Ryan, the spokesman for the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State. Colonel Ryan said the coalition had “begun the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria,” adding that he would provide no further information about “specific timelines, locations or troop movements.”
The withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 American troops posted in northern and eastern Syria threatened to hinder the enduring defeat of the Islamic State and unleash a potentially violent scramble between the other forces in Syria to fill the void.
Mr. Trump has made no secret of his desire to bring the troops home, saying that they were sent to fight the Islamic State and that their mission has nearly been accomplished, but his plan to do so has become muddled…