With the withdrawal of troops from northern Syria, the US has allowed Turkey to launch an offensive against the Kurds in the area. Now US Defense Secretary Mark Esper seems to be considering leaving a few soldiers in Syria. During a visit to Afghanistan, he told reporters that some US troops were still near oil fields and he considered leaving them there.
The soldiers could thus protect the oil fields together with Kurdish fighters and prevent them from falling into the hands of the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS). However, he has not yet submitted this possibility to US President Donald Trump, Esper said.
Deduction should take "weeks, not days"
At the weekend, the US Secretary of Defense had said that the withdrawal of US troops from Syria would take "weeks, not days". This should be "very thoughtful and very safe" run. The soldiers should therefore participate from Iraq further in the fight against the IS terrorist militia.
The US station CNN reported, citing a US official, nearly 500 soldiers and hundreds of vehicles had crossed the border with Iraq. It is thus the largest troop deployment in Syria so far. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported on the border crossing.
Monday's Kurdish News "Hawar News" video showed people in the northern Syrian city of Kamischli throwing potatoes at armored US Army vehicles and abusing the soldiers.