White House denies Trump has changed his mind about Syria.
"The president hasn't changed his position; as he mentioned, his main objective is to ensure the safety of our troops and the safety of our allies as well," said the White House Strategic Communications Advisor in a press interview.
Sputnik Brazil - US President Donald Trump's position regarding the presence of US troops in Syria remains the same, according to White House Strategic Communications Advisor Mercedes Schlapp on Monday (7).
Schlapp made the statement during an interview with Fox News and added that Trump's position has not changed because the main objective of his administration is to maintain the security of US and allied troops, even after the US withdrawal from Syria.
"The president hasn't changed his position; as he mentioned, his main objective is to ensure the safety of our troops and the safety of our allies as well," Schlapp told reporters.
"And so the Department of Defense will present an operational plan to safely withdraw U.S. troops. We defeated the territorial caliphate, and now it's time to bring our troops back," he added.
In December, Trump announced that the US would withdraw its troops from Syria, asserting that the goal of defeating Daesh* had already been achieved.
In response to the US president's announcement, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, as well as the coordinator of the counterterrorism administration, Brett McGurk, resigned from their posts.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton spent Monday (7) in Israel to assure the Jewish state that US troops would not leave Syria until Turkey agreed not to attack Kurdish forces, allies of the Americans. Bolton also assured the Israelis that the US would only leave Syria completely when the rest of Daesh was eliminated.
Despite the defeat of the terrorist group in much of Syrian territory, some pockets of militants remain in the region. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, more than 450 attacks were carried out by the U.S.-led international coalition against Daesh during the first two weeks of 2019.
Donald Trump's initial announcement was followed by a movement of Turkish military forces in the region of the Syrian city of Manjib, where Kurdish forces remain.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also warned on Friday (4) that the US would first need to ensure that Turkey did not massacre Kurds within US-allied People's Protection Units (YPG) forces. The YPG is supported by the US but is considered a terrorist group by the Turks, and therefore there was fear that the withdrawal of US troops from Syria could affect them.