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US to leave Syrian battlefield ‘very soon,’ Trump declares

US Materials 30 March 2018 09:29 (UTC +04:00)
US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that US forces would pull out of Syria “very soon” and lamented what he said was Washington’s waste of $7 trillion in Middle East wars
US to leave Syrian battlefield ‘very soon,’ Trump declares

US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that US forces would pull out of Syria “very soon” and lamented what he said was Washington’s waste of $7 trillion in Middle East wars, The Times of Israel reported.

In a populist address to industrial workers in Ohio, Trump said US forces were close to securing all of the territory that the Islamic State jihadist group once claimed.

“We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now,” he promised, to applause.

Trump did not say who the others were who might take care of Syria, but Russia and Iran have sizable forces in the country to support Bashar Assad’s regime.

“Very soon — very soon we’re coming out. We’re going to have 100 percent of the caliphate, as they call it — sometimes referred to as ‘land’ — taking it all back quickly, quickly,” he said.

“But we’re going to be coming out of there real soon. Going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.”

The United States has more than 2,000 military personnel in eastern Syria, working with local militia groups to defeat the extremist Islamic State group while trying to keep out of Syria’s broader civil war.

“We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing,” Trump declared, promising to focus future US spending on building jobs and infrastructure at home.

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