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Trump says some US troops staying in Syria after requests from Israel, Jordan
[IsraelTimes] US president says ’small number’ of American soldiers remain deployed on Syrian borders; second group stays to secure country’s oil fields.US President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... said Monday that a small number of US troops remain in Syria at the request of Israel and Jordan, with some positioned near the borders with Jordan and Israel and others deployed to secure oil fields. "The other region where we’ve been asked by Israel and Jordan to leave a small number of troops is a totally different section of Syria, near Jordan, and close to Israel," Trump said when asked whether he would leave soldiers in Syria. "So we have a small group there, and we secured the oil. Other than that, there’s no reason for it, in our opinion." Trump’s comments followed a US pullout from northeastern Syria, leaving the Kurds, America’s staunchest allies in the fight against Islamic State  ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... , to face invading Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Trump said the "small number" of US troops staying behind were in an entirely different part of Syria, near its border with Jordan and Israel. He said another group still in Syria "secured the oil," a reference to oil fields that the US hopes to keep from falling into the hands of jihadist fighters. "I always said if you’re going in, keep the oil," Trump said, suggesting that the US would "maybe get one of our big oil companies in to do it properly." Trump said that otherwise US troops are "moving out nicely." US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said earlier in Kabul, however, that the US withdrawal would take "weeks not days." "We have troops in towns in northeast Syria that are located next to the oil fields. The troops in those towns are not in the present phase of withdrawal," Esper said. Israelis have been watching Trump’s decisions on Syria closely, concerned that their country too could be abandoned by its most important ally. Beyond that, Israel has longstanding concerns over whether its enemy Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word Iranis a cognate form of Aryan,the abbreviation IRGCis a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA),the term Supreme Guideis a cognate form of either Shahor Führeror maybe both, and they hate will move to fill any vacuum in neighboring Syria, where Tehran has been supporting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad Lord of the Baath... in an eight-year-old civil war. Netanyahu has been careful not to be seen as criticizing Trump, who has been a key supporter, but last week issued a statement saying Israel strongly condemned ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... ’s "invasion of the Kurdish areas in Syria." He also warned "against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies." Hosting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, Netanyahu thanked Pompeo and Trump for their "consistent support for Israel" and hailed the strength of US-Israel ties. Commenting on the US-arranged ceasefire in Turkey’s offensive in Syria against Kurdish fighters, the prime minister said mildly that he hoped it would "turn out for the best." Posted by: trailing wife 2019-10-22 |
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