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U.S. Troops to Remain in Syria a Few More Months

(New York Times) Julie Hirschfeld Davis - President Trump has instructed his military commanders to quickly wrap up the American military operation in Syria so that he can bring the 2,000 troops home within a few months, senior administration officials said on Wednesday. At a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday, Trump's top military advisers told him they had drawn up plans to pull American troops out of Syria immediately. But they also presented a plan for the forces to stay longer to clean out residual pockets of Islamic State fighters and train local forces to stabilize the liberated territory. Trump replied, "I can support that," as long as the operation lasted months rather than years. Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the American-led coalition in Iraq and Syria, said that the Islamic State still held territory in the mid-Euphrates River Valley. He noted that defeating the remaining militants had proved difficult since offensive operations had all but ceased since the Syrian Kurds - America's key ally - had left the region to fight against the Turkish incursion in northwestern Syria.
2018-04-05 00:00:00
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