Baladi News
President Donald Trump told American troops on Thursday that U.S.-backed forces in Syria have retaken 100 percent of the territory once held by ISIS militants.
That claim contradicts the commander of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, who said it would take another week.
'We just took over – you know, you kept hearing it was 90 per cent, 92 per cent, the caliphate in Syria. Now it's 100 percent we just took over. One hundred per cent caliphate,' Trump told troops.
The Defense Department declined to confirm Trump's claim hours later, referring questions back to the White House.
Earlier on Thursday, the commander of Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Kobani, said in a video released to the news media that the SDF would be able to announce 'the complete victory over Daesh (ISIS) in a week.'
Trump made his comments while talking to U.S. troops in Alaska about the progress his administration has made in Afghanistan and the Middle East over the past two years.
The president has been anxious to declare that ISIS has been driven out of all its territory since announcing in December that he would withdraw American forces from Syria, claiming they had succeeded in their mission to defeat the militant group.
While the U.S. has withdrawn some soldiers, Trump responded to criticism of his move by deciding to leave some 400 U.S. troops in the country over the longer run.
About 200 will remain in the northeast as part of a multinational force and another 200 will stay at an outpost in the southeast to counter Iranian influence.
Source: Daily Mail Online.