President Donald Trump has ordered the more than 2,000 U.S troops in Syria be withdrawn as quickly as possible from their posts, according to a U.S. official.
The withdrawal is based Trump’s decision that the mission against the Islamic State is complete, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly before it is announced.
In a tweet on Wednesday morning, Trump declared victory over the Islamic State in Syria.
“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he wrote.
But despite Trump’s claims that the war against the Islamic State has been won, fighting by U.S.-led forces continues there.
We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018
On Saturday, there were 47 airstrikes conducted by war planes against ISIS targets, U.S. Central Command announced early Wednesday. The bombs struck 20 ISIS fighting units, destroyed petroleum tanks, a tunnel, vehicle and a mortar-firing position.
Further, according to a recent report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, it is far from obliterated. The Washington-based think tank estimates ISIS may still possess between 20,000 to 30,000 militants in Iraq and Syria.
As recently as last week, officials said U.S. troops may need a longer stay to insure that the military’s accomplishments are “enduring.”
“I think it’s fair to say Americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate, until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeat is enduring,” said Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined earlier in December to put a timeline on withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, suggesting they would be needed for some time to establish conditions for a long-term peace agreement.
“We still have a long way to go and so I’d be reluctant to give a fixed time,” Dunford said during a forum held by the Washington Post.
The U.S.-led coalition has been fighting ISIS in the countries since 2014.
U.S. troops, mostly special operations units, have been training local security forces in eastern Syria.
In September, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters the U.S. forces also helped deter Iran from increasing its influence in the region. The U.S. goal has been to beat back ISIS enough to allow the United Nations to broker a peace plan to end years of fighting that have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and created a humanitarian and refugee crisis.
“We want to support the Geneva process, the U.N.-mandated process,” Mattis said in September. “In that scope what we want to do is make certain that ISIS does not come back and upset everything again.”
