Trump defends the decision to withdraw from Syria amid criticism from Republicans

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(CNN) - US President Donald Trump defended his decision on Monday to withdraw US troops from northern Syria before an imminent military offensive planned by Turkey despite criticism from major Republicans, including the leader of the majority of the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

The abrupt decision, announced in a statement on Sunday night by the White House press secretary after a call between Trump and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has sparked a rare show of bipartisan opposition against the Republican president. It has also left national security officials trying to explain another foreign policy, one that threatens the US-backed Kurdish forces in the region.

On Monday, Trump said he "was not on anyone's side," the Kurdish forces or the Turkish government, in his decision and reiterated a previous warning to Turkey about the possible economic devastation.

"I told Turkey that if they do something outside of what we think is human ... they could suffer the wrath of an extremely decimated economy," the president said.

• Did Trump betray the Kurds in Syria?

Trump also tried to minimize the apparent abruptness of his decision, saying he "consulted with everyone." A senior government official said he had discussed the problems "with his senior defense advisors, diplomatic personnel and White House personnel." Two defense officials told CNN that neither Secretary of Defense Mark Esper nor the president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley Mark Milley, were surprised by the president's decision over the weekend to withdraw troops. Both officials said there were several phone calls with leading national security officials over the weekend discussing the matter. However, none of the officials specifically knew how much progress they had made in the process of making the decision Esper and Milley.

The criticisms of the republicans

Trump faced a barrage of criticism within his own party. Critics of the decision came among others from Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsey Graham and the former United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.

"I have great respect for all the people you named," Trump said Monday. "They have their opinion and many people do, and you could also name many more, people who support [the decision] totally."

McConnell called on Trump on Monday to reverse his decision, saying that "a hasty withdrawal from US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran and the Assad regime."

"I urge the president to exercise American leadership to keep our multinational coalition together to defeat ISIS and avoid major conflicts between our NATO ally Turkey and our local Syrian counter-terrorism partners," said the Kentucky senator. “A major new conflict between Turkey and our partners in Syria would run the risk of damaging Turkey's ties with the United States and causing greater isolation for Turkey on the world stage.

"As we learned the hard way during the Obama administration, American interests are better served by American leadership, not by withdrawal or exit," added the majority leader in the Senate.

Other Republican allies of the president, including representative Liz Cheney, the House's three-Republican, opposed Trump's decision. "As he retires from northern Syria, he ignores the painful lesson, represents an abandonment of our Kurdish allies despite his vital contributions to the fight against ISIS, emboldens Iran and serves as an undeserved gift for the Erdogan regime, which has only continued his constant march to Moscow, ”said Cheney.

• Turkey will send soldiers to northern Syria when the United States withdraws from the area, the White House announces

Republicans' comments are particularly notable given the reluctance of the party to oppose the president in other matters. When CNN contacted in recent days, less than a handful of Republicans expressed concern over Trump's public call for foreign governments to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Some Republicans praised the measure, including Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

"I am with @realDonaldTrump today, as once again he fulfills his promises to stop our endless wars and have a true US foreign policy First," Paul tweeted.

Several Democrats also expressed doubts about Trump's decision on Syria. The president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, described the measure as "a deeply disturbing development that betrays our Kurdish allies who have been instrumental partners in our mission to eradicate ISIS."

The United States "would not support this operation in any way or form"

When lawmakers on both sides of the hall denounced the movement to withdraw troops from the northern border of Syria, US officials tried to emphasize that the United States does not support a possible Turkish incursion into Syria.

“The Department of Defense made it clear to Turkey, as well as the president, that we do not support a Turkish operation in northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or participate in any of these operations, ”said Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs adviser Jonathan Hoffman, in a statement on Monday.

A senior State Department official who was informed about Trump and Erdogan's call said the president of the United States made "very clear" that the United States "would not support this operation in any way."

That official suggested that Erdogan had the support of the United States and that if Turkey moves towards Syria, it would be doing so alone.

“If the Turks really want to come in and do this without our support, then they have to do everything. They have to do things like dealing with foreign terrorist fighters, what we have been doing; it has not been easy. They will have to, if they go south enough, deal with al-Hol camp, deal with all these other problems, deal with the ISIS problem, ”he said.

The official said that the US policy in support of its Kurdish allies had not changed, despite the movement that the United States could make and that could leave those allies vulnerable by Turkish attacks.

"Right now we have people who work directly with the military and our people from the State Department with the Kurds," the official told reporters on Monday. "Obviously they are extremely disappointed with this."

Mustafa Bali, the spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by the Kurds, told CNN on Monday that they had tried to cooperate in a safe zone mechanism, but those efforts had been betrayed.

"We tried to apply everything, we withdrew our troops, we destroyed our tunnels but unfortunately the United States did not keep its promises," said Bali.

The senior State Department official said the implementation of the safe zone had been suspended.

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The United States "is not in a position to fight against Turkey and will not be in a position to do so"

The officials also minimized the impact of the elimination of US forces on the stability of the situation.

“I think the United States has made its position on this issue clear, but the first priority and the first obligation of the president if the Turks are going to move forward is to guarantee the security of our troops in the area and those 50 troops will be deployed again within Syria to a place where they are not in danger of being caught in a crossfire, ”a senior administration official told reporters on Monday.

“Anyone can characterize the fact that the president is taking care to make sure that our soldiers, sailors, aviators and marines are safe, since somehow being a green light for a massacre is irresponsible and does not fit the reality of the situation, ”added the official.

That official also pointed out that, since Turkey is a NATO ally with "a great army", the United States is not in a position to fight against Turkey with the actions it takes with respect to Syria. "

However, a Department of Defense official said the Pentagon’s approved plan had always been that US troops would not return from the border until the Turks began military operations inside Syria, something that had not happened when Trump made the announcement. .

And although the White House statement said "Turkey will soon move forward with its planned operation for a long time in northern Syria," the State Department official emphasized the fact that the Turkish operation had not yet begun.

"We knew they had the military capacity to do it, but we have seen it, frankly, over the past year and a half," the official said. "So there was no specific evidence that this time (Erdogan) press the button and, in the end, we still don't know what he will do."

- Barbara Starr, Ryan Browne, Allie Malloy, Maegan Vázquez and Devan Cole of CNN contributed to this report.