New Reversal: 400 U.S. Troops to Stay in Syria
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- A senior official in the administration of President Donald Trump says the U.S. will keep approximately 400 troops in Syria after a planned pullout, contradicting an earlier statement putting the number at 200.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Trump had been persuaded by advisers that about 200 U.S. troops would observe a potential safe zone in northeastern Syria, while another 200 soldiers would remain at the Al-Tanf base in Homs province near the Iraqi border.
The remarks came hours after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that only "a small peace-keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for a period of time."
Trump ordered the withdrawal of all 2,000 American forces from Syria in December 2018 amid preparations by Turkey to launch an operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish militants in the Arab country.
His abrupt move sparked concern among officials in Washington, prompting Pentagon chief Jim Mattis to step down in protest.
The planned pullout also raised worries among Kurdish militants in Syria and left them feeling abandoned by Washington.
Now, with the apparent shift in Washington's Syria plan, Trump claimed on Friday, "I’m not reversing course." The remaining troops, he argued, would be "a very small, tiny fraction” of the American forces.
The American official announcing the new arrangement said when he "asked the president for a couple hundred - he said yes."
"It’s not a firm number, and the president understood that when we asked him,” he noted.
The U.S. has earlier said it was looking for allies to deploy hundreds of troops to Syria following the withdrawal of American soldiers.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford has reportedly begun talks with his European counterparts about establishing a "safe zone” in northeastern Syria.
The Syrian government has rejected an offer by the country’s Kurds to establish a self-rule in the territory under their control in northern Syria.
"Autonomy means the partition of Syria. We have no way to partition Syria," Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, said this week.
"Syria is a country that is a melting pot for all people and all people are equal in front of Syrian law and in front of the Syrian constitution," she told Reuters on the sidelines of a Middle East conference in Moscow on Thursday, calling the Kurds "a precious and very important part of the Syrian people."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Trump had been persuaded by advisers that about 200 U.S. troops would observe a potential safe zone in northeastern Syria, while another 200 soldiers would remain at the Al-Tanf base in Homs province near the Iraqi border.
The remarks came hours after White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that only "a small peace-keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for a period of time."
Trump ordered the withdrawal of all 2,000 American forces from Syria in December 2018 amid preparations by Turkey to launch an operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish militants in the Arab country.
His abrupt move sparked concern among officials in Washington, prompting Pentagon chief Jim Mattis to step down in protest.
The planned pullout also raised worries among Kurdish militants in Syria and left them feeling abandoned by Washington.
Now, with the apparent shift in Washington's Syria plan, Trump claimed on Friday, "I’m not reversing course." The remaining troops, he argued, would be "a very small, tiny fraction” of the American forces.
The American official announcing the new arrangement said when he "asked the president for a couple hundred - he said yes."
"It’s not a firm number, and the president understood that when we asked him,” he noted.
The U.S. has earlier said it was looking for allies to deploy hundreds of troops to Syria following the withdrawal of American soldiers.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford has reportedly begun talks with his European counterparts about establishing a "safe zone” in northeastern Syria.
The Syrian government has rejected an offer by the country’s Kurds to establish a self-rule in the territory under their control in northern Syria.
"Autonomy means the partition of Syria. We have no way to partition Syria," Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, said this week.
"Syria is a country that is a melting pot for all people and all people are equal in front of Syrian law and in front of the Syrian constitution," she told Reuters on the sidelines of a Middle East conference in Moscow on Thursday, calling the Kurds "a precious and very important part of the Syrian people."