{"id":26364,"date":"2018-12-21T03:23:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T03:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26364"},"modified":"2018-12-21T03:23:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T03:23:05","slug":"fears-us-pullout-of-syria-will-aid-daesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26364","title":{"rendered":"Fears US pullout of Syria will aid Daesh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nANKARA: President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria could result in a deadly resurgence of the terror group Daesh, allies fear.<\/p>\n

\nHowever, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Trump\u2019s announcement, saying a US military presence there was no longer needed.<\/p>\n

\nTrump\u2019s claim to have defeated Daesh on Thursday prompted an angry response from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main US ally in the Syria conflict.<\/p>\n

\nIn a strongly worded statement, the SDF said a premature US pullout would have dangerous repercussions, including a resurgence of Daesh and a destabilizing effect on the entire region.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe war against terrorism has not ended and (Daesh) has not been defeated,\u201d the statement said. It added that the fight against Daesh was at a \u201cdecisive\u201d stage that required even more support from the US-led coalition.<\/p>\n

\nTrump\u2019s decision has rattled Washington\u2019s Kurdish allies, who are its most reliable partner in Syria and among the most effective ground forces battling Daesh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nWith US air support, the Kurds drove Daesh from much of northern and eastern Syria in a costly four-year campaign.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe decision to pull out under these circumstances will lead to a state of instability and create a political and military void in the region and leave its people between the claws of enemy forces,\u201d the SDF statement said.<\/p>\n

\nAmong responses reportedly being looked into by Kurdish officials and commanders is the release of thousands of Daesh militants and their families being detained in SDF-run prisons and camps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nArin Sheikhmos, a Kurdish journalist and commentator, told AP: \u201cWe have every right to be afraid.\u201d He predicted that a US military withdrawal would result in massacres and millions of refugees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe US announcement came at a particularly tense moment in northern Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch a new offensive against the Kurds, but in recent days he has stepped up the rhetoric, saying an assault could begin \u201cat any moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe US pullout is expected to be completed within 60 to 100 days. But Nicholas Danforth, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center\u2019s National Security Project, expressed caution about tying the decision too closely to recent developments in US-Turkish relations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWashington\u2019s inability to develop and follow a coherent long-term plan in Syria has denied it the potential benefits of both leaving sooner and staying longer,\u201d he told Arab News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe US military said any claims of a change in American policy in Syria were \u201cfalse\u201d and \u201cdesigned to sow confusion and chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nGen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said the US is planning to train thousands of Syrian local fighters to maintain stability in areas captured from Daesh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nSinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat who chairs the Istanbul-based Center for Economics and Foreign Policy, described Trump\u2019s decision as unexpected but not surprising.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nExperts say it will have consequences for regional dynamics too, with Syrian President Bashar Assad gaining more territory and Russia increasing its regional clout by filling the vacuum. It may also trigger a Turkish offensive in northern Syria against Kurdish forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt will force the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Kurdish party in Syria, to accelerate its dialogue with Damascus and possibly allow Damascus to re-establish territorial control over the Kurdish-held region,\u201d Ulgen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nAnkara seemed to welcome Trump\u2019s decision, but remains cautious about its repercussions on the ground. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe decision weakens the PYD, so Ankara can now control the timing of its diplomatic and military activities,\u201d said Ulgen.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cA military operation can now be done with more ease and less risk given that there won\u2019t be an issue of getting into confrontation with US troops. But Ankara may also decide to allow the regime to establish its control over this territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThat way, Ulgen said, Ankara would have a formal counterpart that would undertake commitments to ensure that the region does not present a security threat to Turkey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThat would require a scenario where Turkey would decide to establish formal relations with Assad and his regime, as declared recently by Foreign Minister (Mevlut) Cavusoglu,\u201d Ulgen added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nOver the weekend, Cavusoglu said Ankara would consider working with Assad if he wins a free and fair election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANKARA: President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria could result in a deadly resurgence of the terror group Daesh, allies fear. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Trump\u2019s announcement, saying a US military presence there was no longer needed. Trump\u2019s claim to have defeated Daesh on Thursday prompted an angry response from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}