Trump pulls 2,000 troops out of SyriaBy The Manila Timeshome/News/World/Trump pulls 2,000 troops out of SyriaWASHINGTON D. C.: President Donald Trump is pulling all 2,000 US troops out of Syria, officials announced Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) as the president suddenly declared victory over the Islamic State, contradicting his own experts’ assessments and sparking surprise and outrage from his party’s lawmakers who called his action rash and dangerous. The United States began airstrikes in Syria in 2014, and ground troops moved in the following year to battle the Islamic State, or ISIS, and train Syrian rebels in a country torn apart by civil war. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he said as Vice President Mike Pence met with top leaders at the Pentagon. The president informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of his decision in a telephone call, the official said. Turkey has recently warned that it would launch combat operations across its southern border into northeastern Syria against Kurdish forces who have been allied with the US in the fight against the Islamic State.

Source: Manila Times December 20, 2018 16:18 UTC