By his new strategy for Syria, Donald Trump ignores all his electoral slogans

Tabnak – Coming to power with the promise of reducing the level of American involvement overseas, US President Donald Trump is actually directing the country into one of the peak periods of its foreign intervention. Washington’s new Syrian strategy, announced just last night, is a proof for this fact. 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced on Wednesday night that US military will remain in Syria indefinitely, spelled out a US plan to advance a political transition in the country, and also called for closer cooperation with Russia to avoid conflict in “de-escalation zones.”

In a speech about the future of the Syrian war -- titled "The Way Forward in Syria" -- at Stanford University in California, Tillerson stated that "let us be clear: the United States will maintain a military presence in Syria, focused on ensuring ISIS cannot re-emerge,” reiterating that there is no place for President Bashar al-Assad in the war-torn country’s future.

“Responsible change may not come as immediately as some hope for, but rather through an incremental process of constitutional reform and UN-supervised elections... But change will come,” he added.
According to Tillerson, Trump administration won’t repeat the “error” former President Barack Obama made in withdrawing US troops from Iraq, only to have to send them back later to help fight ISIS terrorist network.

“We cannot make the same mistakes that were made in 2011,” Tillerson said to an audience that included former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and George Shultz, noting that ISIS and other terrorist groups were able to “wreak havoc” after the US withdrawal.

He also said "diminishing” Iran’s influence in Syria is a key goal for the US, noting that “through its position in Syria, Iran is in a stronger position to extend its track record of attacking US interests, allies, and personnel in the region."

It should be noted that Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, had previously disclosed elements of Washington’s new Syrian policy but Tillerson’s speech was meant to formalize and clearly define it.

As a candidate, Trump had warned against deep US entanglement in Syria, a goal that conflicts with his desire to keep up the fight against ISIS. Since taking office, Trump has also agreed to keep a US presence in Afghanistan despite strong reservations about US goals there.

Although Tillerson did not specify how many US troops are currently operating in Syria, the figure is believed to be in the low thousands — most of them Special Operations. However, the US has recently introduced a plan to create an armed force of 30,000 Syrians to maintain security in areas recently freed from the terrorists.

According to reports, the force would consist largely of Syrian Kurds affiliated with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militants, a group Turkey has long said has ties to insurgents inside Turkey who've been fighting for decades for autonomy for Kurdish areas of southeastern Turkey.