With his decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria, President Trump hands a huge New Year’s gift to President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamic State, the Kremlin and Tehran. As soon as the United States withdraws, the Islamic State will make three moves. If the United States withdraws, not even Washington’s Syrian friends will participate in a U.S.-led diplomatic push. They’ll be too busy defending themselves from the Islamic State and Iran. A few thousand tweets ago, Trump criticized his predecessor for leaving Iraq to the Islamic State in 2011, then having to return in force in 2014.

Source: Washington Post December 20, 2018 00:44 UTC