The Washington Post - 21.10.2019

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

aggression.

Trump, who often praises Saudi

Arabia as an important ally, said the

kingdom “has agreed to pay us for

everything we’re doing to help

them.”

On ABC News’s “This Week” on

Sunday, Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo defended the decision to

withdraw U.S. troops from north-

east Syria, saying the president “be-

lieves we’ve accomplished a signifi-

cant part of our mission and he

wants our folks to come home.”

“This was about getting a cease-

fire and secure area, that this in fact

would save lives in that space,”

Pompeo said. “That was our mis-

sion set.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

Amanda Erickson and Tiffany Harness

in Washington and Sarah Dadouch in

Beirut contributed to this report.

paper Al Ghad said.

Some saw Pelosi’s sudden ap-

pearance in Amman as a slap at

Trump.

“I don’t think it matters what

they talked about,” said a former

Israeli general, who spoke on the

condition of anonymity because of

his ties to the military. “What mat-

ters is that she came here to draw a

line under his abandonment of the

Kurds and the outrage it has

caused.”

Trump has said repeatedly that

he wants to extract the United

States from “endless wars” in the

Middle East. The decision to move

U.S. forces from Syria to Iraq high-

lights the challenges of reaching

that goal.

The administration has sent

thousands of troops to the region

since the spring. The Pentagon said

this month that 1,800 would deploy

to Saudi Arabia to deter Iranian

Iran and Russia,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi earlier called the cease-fire

deal “a sham” that gave a pass to

Turkey’s offensive at the expense of

the Kurds, a key ally in the recent

fight against the Islamic State in

Syria.

Abdullah “urged a political solu-

tion that safeguards Syria’s territo-

rial integrity and the unity of its

people, while guaranteeing the safe

and voluntary return of refugees,”

according to the state-run Petra

news agency.

Coverage of Pelosi’s “middle of

the night” meetings in the Jorda-

nian press focused largely on con-

cerns that Turkey’s assault would

result in the release of thousands of

Islamic State fighters, many of

them from Jordan, from Syrian

prisons.

“This visit comes at a crucial time

of threats to stability in the region

and the control of ISIS,” the daily

halt to the fighting as U.S. troops
stationed in northeastern Syria
prepared to withdraw.
Sporadic clashes between the
SDF and Turkish forces and their
proxies in recent days in Ras al-Ayn,
on the border with Turkey, threat-
ened to undo the fragile agreement.
Under the deal, Turkish forces
would halt military operations for
120 hours to allow the SDF to re-
treat.
Turkey said Sunday that it was
monitoring the evacuation of Kurd-
ish militants it views as terrorists
for their links to the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has
waged a decades-long insurgency
against the Turkish state.
The Turkish Defense Ministry
said Sunday that it had sent a 55-ve-
hicle convoy to Ras al-Ayn. The
ministry said a Turkish soldier was
killed in an attack by Kurdish mili-
tants in Tal Abyad, about 75 miles
west of Ras al-Ayn.
Esper spoke to reporters travel-
ing with him to Kabul, the Afghan
capital.
“The U.S. withdrawal continues
apace from northeast Syria,” he
said. “Again, we’re talking weeks,
not days.”
He said U.S. troops departing
from Syria would go to western
Iraq, where they would have two
missions.
“One is to help defend Iraq and
two is to perform a counter-ISIS
mission as we sort through the next
steps,” he said. “Things could
change between now and whenev-
er we complete the withdrawal, but
that’s the game plan right now.”
Pelosi met with King Abdullah II
and senior Jordanian officials Sat-
urday night. Neither country re-
leased details of the talks until after
the delegation departed for the
United States on Sunday morning.
“With the deepening crisis in
Syria after Turkey’s incursion, our
delegation has engaged in vital dis-
cussions about the impact to re-
gional stability, increased flow of
refugees, and the dangerous open-
ing that has been provided to ISIS,

SYRIA FROM A

Kurds leave

border city

amid U.S.

withdrawal

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Syrians fleeing the Ras al-Ayn area encounter a U.S. military vehicle. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said departing U.S. troops will go to Iraq, in part to counter ISIS.

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THE WATHE WASHINGTON POSTSHINGTON POST

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