There are 2,000 American troops in Syria. Trump's abrupt decision in December to pull them, declaring in a tweet the defeat of Islamic State, sent shock waves across the region and a flurry of criticism from some of his generals and national security advisors, and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and the top U.S. envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition. It also led to major criticism that the U.S. was abandoning its local Kurdish allies amid Turkish threats of an imminent attack.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 11, 2019 12:24 UTC