On Wednesday, the White House announced that the United States began withdrawing its forces from Syria, but stressed that it did not mean the end of the US-led international coalition's fight against the Daesh terror group.
Following the announcement, US Defense Secretary James Mattis filed a resignation letter over his disagreement with US President Donald Trump on the latter's sudden decision to withdraw US forces from Syria.
In turn, Trump explained his decision by saying that the mission in the country has been accomplished and the Daesh terrorist group has been defeated.
On Saturday, Brett McGurk, the US special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat the Daesh terrorist group had resigned over his strong disagreement with Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from the war-torn country.
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The United States, with some 2,000 troops in Syria, has reportedly a concrete military leverage, controlling important outposts and providing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and armed opposition with weapons and other necessary support in the northwestern Idlib province, northern Kurdish-majority autonomy known as Rojava and a 34-mile zone around its At Tanf base in Syria’s southeast.
The US-led coalition of over 70 countries has been carrying out airstrikes in Syria on a regular basis on the pretext of assisting the SDF in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
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However, the Syrian media has repeatedly reported about civilian casualties as a result of the coalition's airstrikes and the use of white phosphorus on numerous occasions. The Syrian authorities, in particular, urged the United Nations to take measures targeting the perpetrators of the attacks and put an end to the coalition's unauthorized presence in Syria.
Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia.