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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Report: US Military to Withdraw from Syria in April

US forces, accompanied by YPG fighters, drive their armored vehicles near the northern Syrian village of Darbasiyah on April 28, 2017. (Getty Images)

The US is planning to pull out its troops from Syria at the end of April, revealed the Wall Street Journal.

A US official confirmed the April target to Reuters, saying the withdrawal included a pullout from the US military base at Tanf, near the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan.

Asked about the WSJ report, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq referred Reuters to comments by Pentagon spokesman Commander Sean Robertson, who declined to discuss the pull-out timeline.

A Turkish official said the United States had not signaled to Ankara a date when the US withdrawal from Syria would be completed.

An official from the Syrian Democratic Forces, the US-backed alliance which is spearheaded by the YPG, told Reuters: "What we know is that so far there is no withdrawal, and the situation on the ground is unchanged. There is no discussion to set any date or time ceiling (for a withdrawal)".

President Donald Trump announced in December he was pulling all 2,000 US troops out of Syria, saying the battle against ISIS there was almost won.

The president's sudden decision surprised many in his own administration as well as coalition allies such as Turkey and an alliance of Kurdish and Arab factions that fought ISIS with US military support.

Washington has been trying to reach agreement with Turkey, which considers the US-backed Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) a terrorist organization, for the safety of the YPG fighters after it pulls out.

It is also discussing setting up a safe zone along the border to address Turkish security concerns.

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