WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the roughly 1,000 U.S. troops he has ordered to leave Syria will remain in the Middle East to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State threat.
In a written statement Monday announcing his authorization of economic sanctions on Turkey, Trump made clear that the withdrawing troops will leave Syria entirely.
He said the troops will “redeploy and remain in the region.” He described their mission as “monitoring the situation” and preventing a “repeat of 2014,” when IS fighters who had organized in Syria as a fighting force swept into neighboring Iraq and took control of Iraq’s north and west.
Trump confirmed that the small number of U.S. troops at a base in southern Syria will remain there.
The president also says he’s issuing new sanctions against Turkey, halting trade negotiations and raising steel tariffs in an effort to pressure Ankara to stop its ongoing offensive attack in Syria against Kurdish forces it views as a terrorist threat.
Trump says he soon will sign an executive order permitting sanctions to be imposed on current and former Turkish officials.
Before the invasion, Trump ordered a couple dozen U.S. forces out of harm’s way. Critics said Trump’s decision gave Turkey a green light to go against the Kurds, who had helped the U.S. battle Islamic State militants.