Trump Said Syria Deserves a “Fresh Start” — But U.S. Troops Aren’t Leaving

President Donald Trump communicated that his administration intends to lift wide-ranging sanctions on Syria during a speech on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia In Syria which has seen so much misery and death there is a new regime that will hopefully will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace Trump disclosed I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness Trump mentioned that Syria deserves a fresh start That new beginning does not however include an end to the U S occupation of Syrian territory according to the Pentagon Around U S troops are presently stationed in the country Related Missiles and Drones Among Weapons Stolen From U S in Iraq and Syria The U S military has been operating in Syria for multiple years as part of its complex and often muddled military efforts in the region America s bases ostensibly exist to conduct counter-ISIS missions but experts say they are also as a check against Iran The outposts have come under frequent attack in latest years and have also been targeted for thefts by militias and criminal gangs Late last year the regime of Bashar al-Assad was toppled after a rapid offensive by rebel forces led by Syria s current interim president Ahmed al-Shara Last month reports emerged that the U S was shuttering three of its eight small outposts in Syria Experts say that withdrawing U S troops from a handful of bases in Syria is now long overdue and necessary to effect a real change in strategy and initiative for the region Over U S troops remain stuck in Syria without a clear mission or timetable to return Lifting sanctions on Syria is a positive step but sanctions aren t the only holdover program from the Assad days that the U S should revisit reported Rosemary Kelanic the director of the Middle East Operation at Defense Priorities a think tank that advocates for more restrained U S foreign plan Over U S troops remain stuck in Syria without a clear mission or timetable to return They re a legacy of the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria but that would-be caliphate was defeated and lost all its territory over years ago It s time for those troops to come home When solicited if the U S was planning a withdrawal of forces from Syria a Pentagon spokesperson referred The Intercept to an April declaration that communicated the U S footprint in Syria would drop down to less than a thousand U S forces in the coming months but would not end entirely The Department of Defense continues to maintain a substantial amount of capability in the region and the ability to make dynamic force posture adjustments based on evolving protection situations on the ground the announcement reads On Wednesday Trump spoke for about half an hour with al-Shara whom he called a young attractive guy Trump also referred to the Syrian president s strong past and called him a fighter Al-Shara is designated as a terrorist by the U S authorities for his former affiliation with Al Qaeda Related Israel Exploits Assad s Fall to Expand Into Syria Trump also encouraged al-Shara to tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria help the U S prevent the resurgence of ISIS and sign on to the Abraham Accords a Trump-brokered pact that established formal ties between Israel and four Arab countries among other recommendations according to a message on X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt Fear of an ISIS revival has been the long-standing argument for keeping U S troops in Syria Kelanic pointed to the newest history of Afghanistan as an argument against proposes that the U S requirements to have boots on the ground to counter any ISIS resurgence The big argument against the U S withdrawal from Afghanistan was that we would see a resurgence of terrorism from al-Qaeda or ISIS But the U S hasn t been targeted by terrorism from Afghanistan Kelanic advised The Intercept The U S has detected plots by ISIS-Khorasan which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan in Iran and Russia and warned those countries ahead of time We re able to still detect what s going on with extremely sophisticated intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities without having boots on the ground The White House did not respond for a request for comment concerning the continued U S troop presence in Syria A latest probe by The Intercept detected that U S troops in the Middle East have come under attack close to times at a minimum since the outbreak of the Israel Hamas war according to figures provided by the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Central Command This amounts to roughly one attack every days on average Having these troops in Syria It s like we re giving them hostages to take if they see fit The strikes predominantly by Iranian-backed militias and prior to a ceasefire signed last week the Houthi executive in Yemen include a mix of one-way attack drones rockets mortars and ballistic missiles fired at fixed bases and U S warships across the region These groups ramped up attacks on U S targets in October in response to the U S -supported Israeli war on Gaza About of those attacks have been on U S bases according to Pentagon spokesperson Patricia Kreuzberger Around percent occurred in Syria Having these troops in Syria puts them at hazard of retaliation from Iran and others revealed Kelanic It s like we re giving them hostages to take if they see fit without there being a particularly compelling reason for these troops to be there The post Trump Revealed Syria Deserves a Fresh Start But U S Troops Aren t Leaving appeared first on The Intercept