{"id":45910,"date":"2019-01-02T21:15:10","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T21:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/01\/02\/trump-confirms-withdrawal-of-us-troops-from-syria-but-refutes-specific-timeline\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:26:15","slug":"trump-confirms-withdrawal-of-us-troops-from-syria-but-refutes-specific-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2019\/01\/02\/trump-confirms-withdrawal-of-us-troops-from-syria-but-refutes-specific-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump is determined to pull US troops from Syria, but refutes specific timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump pushed back against reports of a rapid withdrawal of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2018\/12\/19\/troops-may-immediately-withdrawal-from-syria-as-trump-declares-victory-over-isis\/\" target=\"_blank\"> U.S. troops from Syria<\/a> during a press event on Wednesday, but confirmed that he will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/12\/19\/us-troops-are-leaving-but-isis-is-not-defeated-in-syria\/\" target=\"_blank\">ending American military activity<\/a> there in near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re getting out, we\u2019re getting out smart, and we\u2019re winning,\u201d Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, in response to reporters\u2019 questions about U.S. forces there. \u201cI never said we\u2019re getting out tomorrow. We\u2019re getting out of Syria, but we\u2019re getting out very powerfully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Trump had amended his plans to withdraw about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/12\/19\/a-look-at-us-involvement-in-syrias-civil-war\/\" target=_blank>2,000 American troops from Syria<\/a> over the next four months, instead of removing all the troops in just a few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Trump said he has no specific timeline for the withdrawal. He did say the fight there is no longer worth any amount of American lives or money.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/12\/20\/lawmakers-baffled-by-trumps-decision-to-pull-troops-out-of-syria\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4872629.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Lawmakers tell Trump his decision to pull troops out of Syria is a \u2018costly mistake\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Both Republicans and Democrats criticized the move, saying it ignores advice from military and intelligence leaders.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSyria was lost long ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about sand and death. We\u2019re not talking about vast wealth. We\u2019re talking about sand and death.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also insisted that the threat of Islamic State militants in the region \u2014 the reason for the American military\u2019s return to the Middle East in 2014 \u2014 has now been neutralized, thanks to aggressive steps he took to remove combat restrictions on military commanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were supposed to be out of Syria many years ago. We went in for these spot hits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI go to Walter Reed, and I see soldiers so badly injured and hurt. I don\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump implied that his decisions have the full support of military leaders he spoke with during his recent visit to Iraq, even though the Syria withdrawal was a point of disagreement between Trump and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The withdrawal has raised concerns among lawmakers on Capitol Hill who worry the move is being made too quickly and with too much advance notice. In the past, Trump had promised he would not publicly announce major military moves and give enemy fighters any potential tactical advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2018\/12\/19\/trumps-syria-withdrawal-flies-in-the-face-of-statements-from-top-military-and-national-security-leaders\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18296822940376.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump\u2019s Syria withdrawal flies in the face of statements from top military and national security leaders<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Many top officials see the current Syria operations as necessary to ensure ISIS defeat.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the Cabinet meeting, Trump admonished acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan for inspector general reports on the wars overseas. Those investigations typically focus on government waste and not strategic or tactical moves, but Trump said he still sees them as a potential threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe do these reports on our military. Some [inspector general] goes over there \u2026 and they do a report saying every single thing that is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting wars, and they\u2019re doing reports and releasing them to the public, which is basically the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThose reports should be private reports \u2026 It\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The president called the war-torn country a land of &#8220;sand and death,&#8221; and said American troops have achieved the mission there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":86267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3424],"class_list":["post-45910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TYNCMDRYYJFVRCNBRWT4CHYCMQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/02\/trump-confirms-withdrawal-of-us-troops-from-syria-but-refutes-specific-timeline\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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