News / Interviews

US hawks reluctant to pull troops from Syria: Commentator

Saturday, 05 January 2019 2:16 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 January 2019 2:49 PM ]

This file photo taken on December 30, 2018, shows a line of US military vehicles in Syria's northern city of Manbij. (Photo by AFP)

The United States does not have a specific foreign policy toward Syria, says a political commentator, adding that the hawkish elements in President Donald Trump’s administration are opposed to the decision of withdrawing troops from the war-torn country.

“I think this is a classic case of not American foreign policy but American foreign policies meaning that we do not have one foreign policy particularly with this administration – the Trump administration. Trump himself, I think, his main focus is to decrease or to make as many American military withdrawals as possible from the region. You have other hawkish figures in the administration … who have an anti-Iranian hawkish agenda and who hence are very reluctant or very opposed to any American withdrawal particularly from Syria,” Ali Rizk told Press TV in an interview on Saturday.

“So I think what we have to see is who will win in this confrontation, will it be Trump emerging victorious, or will it be other anti-Iranian hawkish elements,” he added.

The comments came after the United States said it has no timeline for pulling its troops out of Syria but does not plan to keep troops there indefinitely either.

President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US troops from Syria on December 19, asserting that Daesh had been defeated.

His unexpected announcement shocked allies and top US officials, with Defense Secretary James Mattis and Brett McGurk, the US special envoy to the so-called anti-Daesh coalition in Syria and Iraq, resigning from their posts.

The pullout was initially supposed to be completed within weeks, but slowed down as the president has acceded to requests from aides, allies and members of Congress to have a more orderly withdrawal.

The US deployed troops and equipment to Syria in 2014 as part of a Washington-led coalition supposedly fighting the Daesh terrorist Takfiri group.

The terrorists are widely reported to be financed by Saudi Arabia and partially trained and protected by American forces in Syria to support the terror campaign against the Syrian government and ordinary citizens.