Trump to keep 400 troops in Syria
zerohedge.com
>In what by now is an entirely predictable partial retreat from Trump's prior promise of a "full" and "rapid" American troop withdrawal from Syria, the White House announced Thursday night it would leave a small number of troops on the ground in Syria as the bulk of US forces depart. "A small peace keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for (a) period of time," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. This follows months of conflicting signals and constant about-face policy statements from various officials in the Pentagon and administration after Trump first ordered staff to initiate a complete draw down last December. However, the true number has already jumped to 400, as Bloomberg reports on Friday the actual number of troops both Trump and his national security adviser John Bolton signed off on is double, which they've notified Pentagon and defense department officials of.
>The 200 troops who will remain will be divided between At-Tanf, an area near the Iraq-Jordan border, and northeast Syria, according to a US official familiar with the planning process. The troops in northeast Syria currently advise the Syrian Democratic Forces. The idea would be that these 200 remaining US troops would be able to provide unique high-end capabilities — such as logistics, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and calling in airstrikes — that would help encourage coalition countries like France and the United Kingdom to also keep their troops in Syria to help ensure the safe zone with a force of some 1,500 international troops.
"Oy vey, it's just 800 troops, goyim. Surely you can spare 1600 troops to defend Israel! Think about if Iran attacked and you didn't have those 3200 troops in place? Boy, aren't you glad you left those 6400 troops in Syria?"
