White House 'surprised that anyone would be blindsided' by U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria by hunterw
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria has led to criticism from Republicans and U.S. allies who say it could endanger the local Kurdish population and boost the Islamic State group. A senior administration official held a call with reporters on Monday evening to explain Trump’s rationale. The official, who the White House asked to have remain anonymous, dismissed a Fox News report that the Pentagon was “blindsided” by the pullout.
“I’m not going to get into each and every one of the people that the president discussed these issues with, but he discussed them with his senior advisers in ... defense, diplomatic and ... his staff here at the White House,” the official said. “Sometimes people that don’t have the need to know or that aren’t part of the decision chain may be a little disappointed that they weren’t part of it and may call their friends in the press and tell them that they’re blindsided,” the official said.
Story continuesIn the wake of the White House announcement of the troop withdrawal, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly released a statement on Monday expressing fears the decision could hurt international efforts to fight ISIS, which is also known as Daesh, while posing a danger to locals.
“Turkey appears to be set on undertaking an operation in northern Syria. That’s something that the U.S. has been able to dissuade the Turks from doing for the past two years, but it appears that the Turks are intent on some sort of military operation,” the official said. “The president made it very clear publicly and privately that the United States does not endorse or support any Turkish operation in northern Syria,” the official said. “There’ll be no U.S. armed forces involvement or support of any operation that the Turks undertake.”
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