ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — US troops have “completely withdrawn” from northeast Syria, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has told Reuters.
According to the outlet, around 600 soldiers remain in other parts of Syria to protect oil fields from the Islamic State (ISIS).
The withdrawal of US troops in early October prompted international outcry as Turkish-backed forces invaded the areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Operation Peace Spring, greenlighted by the decision of commander-in-chief President Trump, saw Turkey launch its long-awaited invasion of the region.
It aims to cleanse the area of Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which it sees as a terrorist group, before resettling Arab refugees from elsewhere in Syria that have fled to Turkey since 2011.
Civilians pelted US tanks with stones and rotting fruit in protest of the withdrawal, which was also denounced by army officials and US senators.
“Our first priority is to protect people against a brutal ethnic cleansing. That has got to be our first priority,” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen told Syrian Democratic Council representative Ilham Ahmed during a meeting in Washington D.C.
Fierce fighting broke out between the SDF and Turkish-backed proxy groups, resulting in two ceasefire deals brokered by the US and Russia.
The ceasefires have failed to hold, however, with both sides accusing each other of violating the deals.
At the NATO summit in London on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump described the ceasefire as “holding very well” following private meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The border and safe zone is working out very well. I thought it would. And I gave a lot of credit to Turkey for that,” he said.
The US has detracted from accusations that it abandoned Kurdish Syrian forces by pointing to the US raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late October.
Despite Baghdadi's death and US insistence on fighting ISIS, concerns have grown over its revival as the security vacuum grows in northeast Syria.
ISIS has increased its attacks in the area and a number of its militants have escaped SDF-held prisons as guards are sent to the frontlines.
Fighters belonging to the terror group also murdered an Armenian priest and his father en route to restore a church in Deir ez-Zor.
President Trump has claimed the "total destruction" of ISIS on several occasions.
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