Syria is 'sand and death,' Trump says
Last updated on: 03 January,2019 08:01 am
Donald Trump didn't give any specific timetable of the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered a rather stark take on the situation in war-wracked Syria, summing it up in two words -- "sand and death" -- while remaining vague about the timing of the withdrawal of US troops.
"So Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. And besides that, I don t want -- we re talking about sand and death. That s what we re talking about," Trump said during a cabinet meeting.
"We re not talking about vast wealth. We re talking about sand and death."
On when US forces would leave Syria, Trump said: "I don t want to be in Syria forever."
But after saying troops would come home right away, and that the Islamic State group was defeated, he didn t give any specific timetable.
"I never said we are getting out overnight," Trump said.
"Oh, we re withdrawing," he added, saying only that it would happen "over a period of time."
On Monday, the Republican president said the United States was "slowly sending" troops home -- a markedly different tone than he used in his initial announcement of a withdrawal on December 19.
"Our boys, our young women, our men -- they re all coming back and they re coming back now," he said in a video message that day.
The United States has about 2,000 troops -- most of them special forces -- deployed in northern Syria to fight IS and reinforce anti-jihadist forces.
Top-ranking US military officials had repeatedly warned against a hasty retreat from Syria, which they say could leave the door open in Syria to allies of President Bashar al-Assad -- notably Russia and Iran.
Trump s defense secretary Jim Mattis resigned over the decision to leave Syria, as did the administration s special envoy to the anti-IS coalition, Brett McGurk.