After days of back and forth over US President Donald Trump’s decision to pullout American troops from Syria, a US military official said Friday the process of withdrawal has begun, declining to comment on specific timetables or movements. Col. Sean Ryan, spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, said “the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria” has started. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said the withdrawal began Thursday night. Badran Ciya Kurd, a Syrian Kurdish official reached by the AP, declined to comment about the withdrawal. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Americans are not serious about withdrawing from Syria.

Source: Egypt Independent January 11, 2019 11:48 UTC