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[webfact]

U.S. signals open-ended presence in Syria, seeks patience on Assad's removal

By David Brunnstrom

 

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives for a photo op during the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Ben Nelms

 

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday signalled an open-ended military presence in Syria as part of a broader strategy to prevent Islamic State's resurgence, pave the way diplomatically for the eventual departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and curtail Iran's influence.

 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a speech at Stanford University, called for "patience" on Assad's departure - the clearest indication yet of an acknowledgment that Russia and Iran have bolstered Assad and that he is unlikely to leave power immediately.

 

Billed as the Trump administration's new strategy on Syria, the announcement will prolong the risks and redefine the mission for the U.S. military, which has for years sought to define its operations in Syria along more narrow lines of battling Islamic State and has about 2,000 U.S. ground forces in the country.

 

While much of the U.S. strategy would focus on diplomatic efforts, Tillerson said:

 

"But let us be clear: the United States will maintain a military presence in Syria, focused on ensuring ISIS cannot re-emerge," while acknowledging many Americans' scepticism of military involvement in conflicts abroad, Tillerson said.

 

U.S. forces in Syria have already faced direct threats from Syrian and Iranian-backed forces, leading to the shoot-down of Iranian drones and a Syrian jet last year, as well as to tensions with Russia.

 

Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, had previously disclosed elements of the policy but Tillerson's speech was meant to formalise and clearly define it.

 

A U.S. disengagement from Syria would provide Iran with an opportunity to reinforce its position in Syria, Tillerson said.

 

As candidate, U.S. President Donald Trump was critical of his predecessors' military interventions in the Middle East and Afghanistan. As president, however, Trump has had to commit to an open-ended presence in Afghanistan and, now, Syria.

 

The transition to what appears to be open-ended stability operations in Syria could leave those U.S.-backed forces vulnerable to shifting alliances, power struggles and miscommunications as Assad's allies and enemies vie for greater control of post-war Syria.

 

After nearly seven years of war, hundreds of thousands of Syrians killed and a humanitarian disaster, Tillerson asked nations to keep up economic pressure on Assad but provide aid to areas no longer under Islamic State's control.

 

Tillerson said free, transparent elections in which the Syrian diaspora participate "will result in the permanent departure of Assad and his family from power. This process will take time, and we urge patience in the departure of Assad and the establishment of new leadership," Tillerson said.

 

"Responsible change may not come as immediately as some hope for, but rather through an incremental process of constitutional reform and U.N.-supervised elections. But that change will come," he said.

 

Syrian opposition member Hadi al-Bahra welcomed Tillerson’s announcement but urged more details.

 

“This is the first time Washington has said clearly it has U.S. interests in Syria that it is ready to defend,” Bahra told Reuters.

 

However, he said, more clarity was needed on how Washington will force the implementation of the political process and how it “will force the Assad regime into accepting a political settlement that leads to establishing a safe and neutral environment that leads to a transition through free and fair elections."

 

"SWISS CHEESE"

 

The top U.S. diplomat said Washington would carry out "stabilization initiatives" such as clearing landmines and restoring basic utilities in areas no longer under Islamic State control, while making clear that "'stabilization' is not a synonym for open-ended nation-building or a synonym for reconstruction. But it is essential."

 

Tillerson said the United States would "vigorously support" a United Nations process to end the conflict, a so-far stalled process, and called on Russia, a main supporter of Assad, to "put new levels of pressure" on the Syrian government to "credibly engage" with U.N. peace efforts.

 

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria said on Wednesday he had invited the Syrian government and opposition to a special meeting next week in Vienna.

 

But it was not immediately clear how or why Moscow would heed Washington's oft-repeated demands.

 

James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq who served as a deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush, said that while Tillerson set down the broad parameters of a first comprehensive U.S. strategy for Syria, he left major questions unanswered.

 

“It’s full of holes like Swiss cheese, but before we just had the holes,” said Jeffrey, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

 

Key questions that Tillerson left unaddressed, he continued, included how long Assad should remain in power and whether he would play a role in any political transition.

 

Tillerson praised Turkey's role in taking on Islamic State. Ties between the two countries have been strained over U.S. support for the Syrian Democratic forces, the mainly Kurdish-led militias fighting Islamic State in northern Syria with the help of U.S. forces.

 

The U.S.-led coalition said on Sunday it was working with the SDF to set up a 30,000-strong force that would operate along the borders with Turkey and Iraq, as well as within Syria.

 

Assad responded by vowing to crush the new force and drive U.S. troops from Syria. Russia called the plans a plot to dismember Syria and place part of it under U.S. control, and Turkey described the force as a "terror army."

 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, David Alexander and Jonathan Landay; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-18

[milwaukeeboy]

Trump should pull the US troops and covert intelligence agents out of Syria.

[Ron19]

Off topic and troll posts as well as answers have been removed.

[Jonmarleesco]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

The United States on Wednesday signalled an open-ended military presence in Syria as part of a broader strategy to prevent Islamic State's resurgence

I'd swear it was the USA's interference in the region (one of many) in the first place that gave rise to Isis.

[mrwebb8825]

12 hours ago, Jonmarleesco said:

I'd swear it was the USA's interference in the region (one of many) in the first place that gave rise to Isis.

Yes, it was Bush's believing false intelligence reports that destabilized Iraq's control over Iran and Obama's incompetence with pant suited grandma on his lap that pulled out without a suitable replacement that gave them space to grow and weapons to fight with. 

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Yes, it was Bush's believing false intelligence reports that destabilized Iraq's control over Iran and Obama's incompetence with pant suited grandma on his lap that pulled out without a suitable replacement that gave them space to grow and weapons to fight with. 

"Iraq'a control over Iran"??? What control did Iraq have over Iran?

 As for Obama's withdrawal, he was simply complying with the agreement that Bush and Cheney unhappily settled for. It was the best they could do. It was the Bush administration that plucked Maliki out of obscurity and helped make him the leader of Iraq. Maliki, who it turns out was an ally of the Iranians all along. There wasn't much that Obama could do in the face of that and general Shiite opposition to a continuation of the US presence there.

[Thaidream]

Get the hell out of the middle east and stop paying Egypt; the Palestinians and Israel billions of dollars that should be going to Americans in need of healthcare. Trump is wasting billions on this ongoing sad adventure.

[mrwebb8825]

19 hours ago, Thaidream said:

Get the hell out of the middle east and stop paying Egypt; the Palestinians and Israel billions of dollars that should be going to Americans in need of healthcare. Trump is wasting billions on this ongoing sad adventure.

You DO understand that President Trump has only been president for 1 year, right? You DO understand that America has been shoveling billions over seas since the end of WWII, right?

[ilostmypassword]

5 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

You DO understand that President Trump has only been president for 1 year, right? You DO understand that America has been shoveling billions over seas since the end of WWII, right?

The doublethink of Trumpistas is truly bizarre. On the one hand, on the economy which had been consistently improving under Obama and continued to improve under Trump. the want to give credit for Trump even though there was nothing he did or could have done to account for this improvement.

On the other hand, in the mideast and Afghanistan, where as commander-in-chief he could have begun the process of extrication that he repeatedly promised during the campaign, his administration has actually gotten the USA in deeper.

Here's a good article that looks at his curious cluelessness:

Trump doesn't support his own administration's foreign policy

 

• President Donald Trump's administration has pursued a foreign policy that is frequently at odds with his personal beliefs.
• Several examples include his White House's approach to North Korea, China, and Afghanistan.
• This means US foreign policy might become highly volatile in the years going forward.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/trump-doesnt-support-his-own-administrations-foreign-policy-2018-1

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Hmmmmm.

How's the "open ended" situation in Afghanistan going?

However the time to stop was before they even started far as Syria goes. No winners there.

I do think the US should give the Kurds whatever they need to keep Assad and Erdogan at bay.

[ilostmypassword]

50 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

 

However the time to stop was before they even started far as Syria goes. No winners there.

I do think the US should give the Kurds whatever they need to keep Assad and Erdogan at bay.

In that case you do support the USA's open ended involvement in Syria.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

In that case you do support the USA's open ended involvement in Syria.

LOL. Giving the Kurds weapons is not the same as supporting the so called resistance. Supporting Bin Ladin in Afghanistan didn't work out too well for the US, in the end.

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL. Giving the Kurds weapons is not the same as supporting the so called resistance. Supporting Bin Ladin in Afghanistan didn't work out too well for the US, in the end.

You should reread the subject line of this thread:

 

U.S. signals open-ended presence in Syria, seeks patience on Assad's removal

It's not about giving weapons to the Kurds. It's about US troops remaining inside Syria indefinitely.

[Sir Dude]

The western nations should just pull out and leave them to it...see what emerges. All interventions so far have failed miserably. Islam is at odds with itself deeply and needs to sort out their blood feud...most likely through war as I see little that says dialogue or compromise will work, too much hatred.

Edited January 21, 2018 by Sir Dude

[mrwebb8825]

18 hours ago, Sir Dude said:

The western nations should just pull out and leave them to it...see what emerges. All interventions so far have failed miserably. Islam is at odds with itself deeply and needs to sort out their blood feud...most likely through war as I see little that says dialogue or compromise will work, too much hatred.

This would work IF there was a no-fly zone enforced around all of the effected countries by coalition forces. There would have to be a strict no border breech rule added and any found to be crossing into countries with coalition forces would summarily executed on the spot. Might work.

Edited January 22, 2018 by mrwebb8825

[thaibeachlovers]

19 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

You should reread the subject line of this thread:

 

U.S. signals open-ended presence in Syria, seeks patience on Assad's removal

It's not about giving weapons to the Kurds. It's about US troops remaining inside Syria indefinitely.

LOL.

I've always said the US should not get involved in Syria. Apparently you didn't get that from my post.

I only support giving the Kurds whatever they need to survive.

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL.

I've always said the US should not get involved in Syria. Apparently you didn't get that from my post.

I only support giving the Kurds whatever they need to survive.

And how exactly would they give the Kurds "whatever they need to survive'? Via gift orders from Amazon?

Edited January 22, 2018 by ilostmypassword

[mikebike]

50 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

And how exactly would they give the Kurds "whatever they need to survive'? Via gift orders from Amazon?

You think the most overfunded military in the world cannot work out the logistics of dropping arms and/or cash anywhere?