{"id":21321,"date":"2019-01-16T19:13:55","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T19:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/01\/16\/senator-says-trumps-syria-comments-may-have-emboldened-isis-deadly-attack-on-us-troops\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:05:00","slug":"senator-says-trumps-syria-comments-may-have-emboldened-isis-deadly-attack-on-us-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/16\/senator-says-trumps-syria-comments-may-have-emboldened-isis-deadly-attack-on-us-troops\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator says Trump\u2019s Syria comments may have emboldened ISIS deadly attack on US troops"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=6822c938-164b-4eab-bf7e-eaa0b339af6d\" poster=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/video-poster-6822c938-164b-4eab-bf7e-eaa0b339af6d.png\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Two U.S. troops and two American civilians were killed, and three service members wounded, in a suicide bombing attack in the northern Syrian city of Manbij.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 One of President Donald Trump\u2019s closest allies in Congress criticized the commander-in-chief on Wednesday for statements he says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/01\/11\/plan-calls-for-us-troop-pullout-from-syria-to-take-months-bringing-hundreds-more-troops-in-to-assist\/\" target=\"_blank\">may have emboldened Islamic State militants<\/a> and led to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/01\/16\/us-service-members-killed-in-blast-while-on-patrol-in-syria\/\" target=\"_blank\">deaths of U.S. service members in Syria<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The comments came at the same time that Vice President Mike Pence publicly claimed that ISIS \u201chas crumbled\u201d and \u201chas been defeated\u201d during a State Department event on Wednesday a few miles away from Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials still have not confirmed details of an explosion in the northern Syrian town of Manbij that claimed the lives of multiple U.S. troops, the first casualties since the White House announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/01\/08\/are-we-leaving-syria-or-not\/\" target=\"_blank\">plans to draw down American forces in the region<\/a>.<\/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\/2019\/01\/16\/us-service-members-killed-in-blast-while-on-patrol-in-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=\"178\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ARM-Syria-blast.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\">US service members killed in blast while on patrol in Syria<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. service members were on a routine patrol near Manbij, officials said.<\/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\">Several times in recent weeks, Trump justified the pull-out by saying that ISIS was essentially defeated, rendering the U.S. mission there moot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pence echoed that message in his speech, promising an orderly but deliberate withdrawal in coming weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But numerous members of Congress \u2014 including usually supportive Republican lawmakers \u2014 have expressed doubt over the rapid withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among them is Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday connected the president\u2019s recent comments with the latest deadly attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy concern about the statements made by President Trump is that you set in motion enthusiasm of the enemy we\u2019re fighting,\u201d Graham said. \u201cAs they get bolder the people who we\u2019re trying to help are going to get more uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery American wants our troops to come home. But I think all of us want to make sure that when they do come home we\u2019re safe. So I would hope the president would look long and hard of where he\u2019s headed in Syria.\u201d<\/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\/2019\/01\/14\/trump-says-us-must-stop-its-endless-wars-and-bring-troops-home\/\" 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=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4579114.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 says US must stop its \u2018endless wars&#8217; and bring troops home<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The president&#039;s comments come as administration officials work to downplay fears about the rapid removal of forces from the region.<\/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\">Graham added that he understands public frustration with the Syria fight but added \u201cwe\u2019re never going to be safe here unless we\u2019re willing to help people over there who will stand up against this radical ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A statement from the White House on Wednesday afternoon expressed sympathy for the loss of the U.S. troops killed in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur deepest sympathies and love go out to the families of the brave American heroes who were killed today in Syria,\u201d the message said. \u201cWe also pray for the soldiers who were wounded in the attack. Our service members and their families have all sacrificed so much for our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve confirmed this week that the U.S. military has increased the frequency of airstrikes in recent weeks as the withdrawal plans have progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis stepped away from his Pentagon leadership post just days after the Syria withdrawal was first reported, and cited concerns about a lack of support for U.S. allies by the Trump administration among the reasons for his departure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican Lindsey Graham has been a critic of Trump&#8217;s plans to move U.S. troops out of Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46733,"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":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,26,62,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-21321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TZC2ZMXWCBHPXCBVIEMWDZ5F5Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/16\/senator-says-trumps-syria-comments-may-have-emboldened-isis-deadly-attack-on-us-troops\/","remove_feature_photo":true,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senator says Trump\u2019s Syria comments may have emboldened ISIS deadly attack on US troops - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Republican Lindsey Graham has been a critic of Trump&#039;s plans to move U.S. troops out of Syria.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senator says Trump\u2019s Syria comments may have emboldened ISIS deadly attack on US troops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Republican Lindsey Graham has been a critic of Trump&#039;s plans to move U.S. troops out of Syria.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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