WASHINGTON DC - Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Monday that US President Donald Trump would make a "mistake" if he decides to withdraw troops from the Kurdish-held northeast Syria (Rojava), adding that Kurds are essential to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS).
It would be a "mistake" for the US to withdraw troops from Syria as "our Syrian Kurdish friends are important to stopping ISIS from coming back," he told Rudaw.
Democrat Senator has been a staunch supporter of Syrian Kurds.
The US has recently upped its presence of troops in Syria from 900 to around 2,000 after a coalition of rebels led by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8. It has explained the surge in numbers as a temporary measure to prevent ISIS from gaining a foothold in the country.
Trump said on Thursday that a "determination" will be made regarding American troops in Syria, but did not provide further details. He denied previously stating that he would pull troops out of the country.
“I don't know who said that. But we'll make a determination on that,” Trump told reporters in response to a question whether he had said he would withdraw American troops from Syria.
“We're not involved in Syria. Syria's its own mess… They don't need us involved,” he added.
US forces in Syria are the primary backers of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which territorially defeated ISIS in 2019 and ended a five-year so-called “caliphate” of the group, two years after they were defeated in neighboring Iraq.
SDF chief Mazloum Abdi has repeatedly warned against the withdrawal of US troops.
“We hope that the coalition does not withdraw,” Abdi told AP on Sunday, adding that the are not aware of any plans by Washington with pull out troops from Syria. “We ask them to stay.”
