“A claim reported this evening by a major US newspaper that the US military is developing plans to keep nearly 1,000 US troops in Syria is factually incorrect,” Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement. “There has been no change to the plan announced in February and we continue to implement the President's direction to draw down US forces to a residual presence,” he adds.
He was reacting to a Wall Street Journal article published earlier in the evening Sunday that said the US had drastically reversed course for a withdrawal in the region after President Trump announced in December that all US troops would soon be pulled from Syria. The report said conversations between the US, Turkey, and European allies had failed to yield a workable plan for a pull-out.
Dunford said in his statement that the Pentagon has conducted "detailed military planning" with Turkey. He said these plans have been "productive" and that an "initial concept that will be refined in the coming days."
Trump’s December announcement of a rapid withdrawal of US troops from Syria prompted former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to resign. Since that time the Trump administration has walked back the bold assertion. Earlier this month, he said the US will leave a “ stabilizing force” behind.
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