U.S. Still Hunting for Allied Cooperation in Syria by Nancy A. Youssef – Wall Street Journal
Trump administration officials didn’t secure commitments from key European allies to send military forces to Syria, passing a target date set for Friday, but said they would continue building their case for allied involvement to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State extremist group.
U.S. officials are planning calls with top military and diplomatic leaders from other countries next week, and said they are confident that allies will be a part of a stabilization campaign.
Officials from three key allied countries—the U.K., France and Germany—didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday. European officials have said that they haven’t seen specific U.S. plans for how to secure eastern Syria following the final elimination of Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate.
The passage of Friday’s target date set by the U.S. reflected the administration’s difficulty in devising a new plan for the area controlled by the U.S. and its local and international partners in northeastern Syria following President Trump’s call in December for a withdrawal of U.S. forces…