Trump says ISIS defeated in Syria; reports say US to withdraw troops

In a tweet, Trump said: ‘We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.’

File Image/ (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

New Delhi: The United States is going to withdraw its military troops from Syria, a US official said on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement of defeating ISIS there. He said the goal of defeating IS jihadists in Syria has been achieved. In a tweet, Trump said: ‘We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.’ The decision was finalised on Tuesday, news agency AFP reported. Though Pentagon has not yet confirmed the withdrawal of troops, citing an official AFP reported that troops will be pulled from all of Syria. "Full withdrawal, all means all”, it quoted the official as saying. The official has however not provided any timeline as of yet. Certain US media reports also said that the country is preparing for troop withdrawal from Syria. About 2,000 US force are deployed in Syria, most of them are on a train-and-advise mission to support local force fighting Islamic State.

We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018

The fighting force which is largely constituted by Kurdish fighters is viewed as terrorist group by Turkey. Ankara has said it plans to launch an operation against the Kurdish militia, known as the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units). In the year 2014, the Islamic State took over large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq and launched a cruel crackdown and imposed the practice of the brutal Islamic State laws. However, the IS effect has rapidly mitigated and they have lost most of that territory to different offensives.