WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top US envoy leading a global coalition fighting Islamic State has quit over President Donald Trump’s decision this week to pull US troops out of Syria, a source familiar with the matter said on Saturday. Brett McGurk, US special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat the militant group, submitted his resignation effective Dec. 31 to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, a State Department official said. But McGurk, along with other US government agencies, believed the fight against the militant group was hardly over. “Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished.”By contrast, Trump has claimed victory against Islamic State and considers the mission in Syria over given the group’s territorial losses. Trump’s declaration of triumph has alarmed key NATO allies such as France and Germany, who said the change of course on Syria risks damaging the fight against Islamic State, which has now been squeezed to a sliver of Syrian territory.

Source: Egypt Independent December 23, 2018 02:26 UTC