US Military Planning to Leave Nearly 1,000 Troops in Syria - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th March, 2019) The US military are planning to keep nearly 1,000 troops in Syria, media reported on Sunday citing US officials

US President Donald Trump announced in December that he had decided to pull out troops from Syria promising to bring about 2,000 US servicemen back home. The reason for the move, he explained, was the defeat of the Islamic State terrorist group (which is outlawed in Russia) in Syria. However, no exact deadline for the return of troops has been revealed by US officials yet.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in February that the United States would leave a small peacekeeping group of about 200 personnel in Syria "for a period of time." According to media reports, this number has already risen to 400, with 200 troops to be placed in northeast Syria and the other 200 at At-Tanf base in southern Syria.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Washington plans to continue supporting Kurdish forces in Syria despite the threats from Ankara to launch a military operation against the Kurds in northern Syria. Sources told the media outlet that these plans require to keep nearly half of the current US military contingent in the country.

The publication notes that the number of US military contingent in Syria may change if Trump decides that it is too risky to keep such a big number of troops in the conflict torn country.

The US-led coalition of more than 70 members has been conducting military operations against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq since September 2014. The coalition's activities in Syria are authorized neither by the Syrian government, nor by the UN Security Council.