Baladi News
The United States has started bringing home all troops from Syria as it moves to a new phase in the campaign against Islamic State, the White House said on Wednesday, claiming that the militant Islamist group’s “territorial caliphate” has been defeated.
Around 2000 U.S. troops have been training local forces and backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in order to defeat the Islamic State. The withdrawal will be "full and rapid," the CNN reported.
“These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
On his Tweeter account, President Donald Trump tweeted:
"We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency."
Washington's decision to pull troops out of Syria has come after a phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, Reuters reported late Wednesday citing a U.S. official.
"Everything that has followed is implementing the agreement that was made in that call," he said.