US forces leave Hasakah base following Trump’s decision to evacuate Syria
The United States has reportedly evacuated a military base in Syria, the first step towards delivering on President Donald Trump’s recent pledge to pull American forces out of the war-torn Arab country.
According to local residents of al-Malikiya, in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, some 50 American soldiers had already left the base and traveled to a base in Iraq, along with their armored vehicles and other equipment.
The evacuation began after Trump, in an unexpected change of policy, announced he was going to return the troops back home because the Daesh terrorist group was already defeated and there was no reason for the US to extend military presence there.
The US has stationed about 2,000 soldiers in 18 bases across Syria since 2014. The Pentagon says the withdrawal would take between two and three months.
The controversial decision triggered backlash from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and prompted Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign. The decision also led Brett McGurk, the US special envoy to the so-called anti-Daesh coalition in Syria and Iraq, to quit.
He criticized Mattis, essentially firing him by announcing in a tweet that his replacement, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, would take over from January 1, two months before the former Pentagon chief’s tenure ended.
He also criticized McGurk, saying his time in office was about to end, accusing him of grandstanding his exit.
US military withdrew from its base in the city of Hasakah in Syria, the first base to be evacuated by US forces since Trump’s announcement of troops withdrawing from Syria, Turkish media reported
— Kataeb.org English (@Kataeb_Eng) December 30, 2018
But Trump doubled down on his policy by also announcing that he would cut in half the roughly 14,000 US forces in Afghanistan.
America’s military presence in northern parts of Syria, where US troops were working closely with Kurdish groups to push back against Daesh, had drawn fire from Turkey.
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Ankara has launched its own military incursion into Syria, with a declared goal of destroying Kurdish groups causing unrest in Turkish territories.
Upon announcing his decision to leave Syria, Trump said Turkey would be taking on the US military responsibilities in the country.
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