A spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said their relationship with the US-led coalition has not changed across northern Syrian territory where they are working together.
“Our work and coordination (with the coalition) is continuing in the framework of the support programme and joint operations in all regions,” Kino Gabriel told Reuters.
He added that Trump’s statement “was not clear.”
Shortly after Trump’s comment during a televised speech in Ohio, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters that they had no information about a withdrawal from Syria.
Trump had implied that victory over ISIS in Syria is imminent. “We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS,” he said. “We’re gonna have a 100 percent of the caliphate as they call it… we’re taking it all back quickly, quickly.”
ISIS has been pushed back in Syria and is in control of roughly three percent of Syrian territory, according to figures from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The group is largely concentrated in Syria’s eastern desert and along the Middle Euphrates River Valley. It is not defeated, however, and the Observatory reported this week that the group is “coming back to life” in eastern Syria.
ISIS has escalated its deadly attacks on Syrian forces, militias allied to Damascus, and the coalition-backed SDF, seeking to expand its territory.
In the last half of March, ISIS killed at least 173 regime and allied militia forces, the Observatory reported on Thursday.
The coalition has acknowledged an operational pause on the Deir ez-Zor front after SDF forces redeployed to Afrin to defend the Kurdish canton against a Turkish military operation. The military alliance is still carrying out near daily airstrikes against ISIS targets in the al-Boukamal area of the Euphrates River Valley.
The focus of the Kurdish forces will likely remain on its Rojava territory as Turkey threatens to extend its military operation eastward from Afrin.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that preparations are underway for counter-terror operations against Rojava cities including Kobane, Tal Abyad, and Hasaka, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Turkish considers the PYD and the armed YPG branches of the PKK, a named terror group. The Kurdish groups deny the charge.
