Trump denies backtracking on troop withdrawal from Syria

US President Donald Trump has stated that his plans to withdraw US troops from Syria are “no different” than originally announced.

 In a tweet on Monday morning, Trump condemned The New York Times for publishing “a very inaccurate story on my intentions for Syria.”

“No different from my original statements, we will be leaving at a proper pace while at the same time continuing to fight ISIS (Daesh) and doing all else that is prudent and necessary!” he wrote.

Earlier, the White House said Trump has not changed his position on the withdrawal of troops from Syria

"The president hasn't changed his position, as he mentioned his primary goal is to ensure the safety of our troops and the safety of our allies as well," White House spokeswoman Mercedes Schlapp told Fox News on Monday.

"And so the Department of Defense will come up with its operational plan to safely withdraw our troops,” she added.

The White House statement came a day after Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton set conditions for a troop departure that could take months, contradicting the president’s insistence that the withdrawal would be immediate and without any conditions.

Bolton contradicts Trump

Speaking during a visit to Israel, Bolton said that the United States must achieve certain “objectives” before withdrawing troops from Syria, a country where the US, Israel, France, Britain and their regional allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar have been sponsoring terrorists since 2011. This has left the country in ruins.

“The timetable flows from the policy decisions that we need to implement,” Bolton said.

“It’s also very important that as we discuss with members of the coalition, [and] other countries that have an interest, like Israel and Turkey, that we expect that those who have fought with us in Syria . . . particularly the Kurds,” not be put in “jeopardy” by the withdrawal, added Bolton.

Last month, Trump declared victory against Daesh terrorists in Syria and announced to pull out American troops from the country, saying that US troops cannot stay in Syria "forever.”

Several senators on both sides of the aisle have accused Trump of making a hasty decision, with one administration official saying "the President's decision-by-tweet will recklessly put American and allied lives in danger around the world."

But several others, like Republican Senator Rand Paul and former congressman Dr. Ron Paul, have defended Trump's decision to withdraw the American troops in Syria, with Dr. Paul saying that the United States needs to "have a clean cut" with military involvement in the Middle East.

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