Donald Trump Wants to Withdraw American Troops From Northern Syria

Will the Deep State derail Trump’s sensible foreign policy moves?

United States President-elect Donald Trump plans to withdraw American troops from northern Syria, according to a report by Iranian media outlet PressTV. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made this announcement. 

Trump allegedly believes that leaving these troops would make them “cannon fodder” if an armed clash between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants takes place

In a live show, Kennedy recounted a recent discussion with the incoming president on a plane trip about his plans for northern Syria. 

Kennedy, in a live broadcast, detailed his conversation with Trump during a plane journey that the upcoming President had expressed his plans for northern Syria. “We were talking about the Middle East, and he took a piece of paper and drew on it a map of the Middle East with all the nations on it, which most Americans couldn’t do. He was particularly looking at the border between Syria and Turkey, and he said, ‘We have 500 men on the border of Syria and Turkey and a little encampment that was bombed,’" Kennedy said during the broadcast.

Kennedy noted that Trump said that US troops would be caught in the middle of crossfire between Turkish, Syrian, and Kurdish forces. The Turks intervened in Syria in 2016 to clamp down against Kurdish separatist entities operating in Syria, which it views as terrorist entities. 

According to Kennedy, the “generals” informed Trump that American troops would effectively be turned into “cannon fodder” in such a firefight. In response to the generals’ assessment of the situation, Trump exclaimed “Get them [military units] out!” 

The US military has stationed forces and other military assets in northeastern Syria. The Defense Department asserts that the deployment of troops in Syria is to prevent ISIS terrorists from capturing the oilfields. There are roughly 900 US troops stationed in Syria. 

The Syrian government has claimed that American troops are stationed there to confiscate the country’s resources. US troops are also there likely to check Iranian proxies that have embedded themselves across Syria at Israel’s behest. The Jewish state is fearful of a Syrian state with increasingly stronger military ties with Iran. 

All things considered, this is none of the US’s business. The US needs to start focusing on securing its southern border with Mexico — its geopolitical blindspot. And that will require all the military help it can get. We can start by bringing back troops from Syria and placing them at the border.