Washington sent on Thursday conflicting signs concerning “a very soon withdrawal” of US forces from Syria.
"We're knocking the hell out of ISIS. We're coming out of Syria very soon. Let the other people take care of it now, very soon. Very soon, we're coming out,” US President Donald Trump said Thursday during a speech in Richfield, Ohio.
However, the US Department of State commented on Trump’s speech by asserting that Washington does not currently think about withdrawing its forces from the war-torn country.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said she was unaware of any new policy to withdraw US forces.
The US position came as Moscow asserted that more than 130,000 refugees, who had fled Ghouta via humanitarian corridors in the past weeks, would now begin to return home.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday said Syrian forces had “nearly wiped out the terrorists” in the rebel-held enclave of Western Ghouta.
“As a result of this anti-terrorism operation in Western Ghouta, terrorist elements have nearly been wiped out of this suburb of the Syrian capital,” Lavrov said at press conference in Moscow after meeting UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who also met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Sources close to the Russian government said that talks with the Russian ministers and de Mistura tackled the field situation in Syria, and particularly in eastern Ghouta.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Alloush, the political chief of Jaish al-Islam rebel group said that negotiations with Moscow concerning the future of Douma, was still ongoing, adding that such talks were not discussing the withdrawal of his troops from the area.
Lavrov and de Mistura had discussed plans to send a UN team to Raqqa, the former self-proclaimed capital of ISIS now under control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Also on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that talks with Jaish Al Islam rebels about them leaving Eastern Ghouta were under way, according to RIA news agency.
Bogdanov also said that there was a chance for progress on the issue.
