10/30/19
WASHINGTON — Every day in northeastern Syria, waves of American troops are pulling out under President Trump’s order this month that paved the way for a Turkish offensive that included assaults on the Pentagon’s allies, the Syrian Kurds. And at the same time, a separate wave of American troops from the opposite direction is pouring back in. In fact, once the comings and goings are done, the total number of United States forces in Syria is expected to be about 900 — close to the 1,000 troops on the ground when Mr. Trump ordered the withdrawal of American forces from the country. “It’s damage control,” said Alexander Bick, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who oversaw Syria issues at the National Security Council in the Obama administration. “But the damage is already done in terms of partners’ alarm at the capriciousness of U.S. policy-making, a strategic reshuffle along the Turkish border and the overwhelming sense that the United States is on its way out.” In the three weeks of political and military turmoil that upended the administration’s Syria policy, the United States has deserted its pivotal Kurdish ally; ceded territory the Kurds had controlled to Syria, Turkey and Russia; and opened the door for a possible Islamic State resurgence despite the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in an American commando raid last Saturday. The dizzying set of deployments of American troops passing one another on the roads and in the skies of northern Syria started earlier this month when Mr. Trump ordered back in a force to protect the region’s coveted oil fields from the Islamic State, as well as from Syria and Russia.
On Oct. 6, the day President Trump spoke to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and gave tacit approval for a Turkish military invasion, the American military had around 1,000 troops in Syria. After his phone call with Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Trump ordered the American troops fighting alongside the Kurds in northeastern Syria to withdraw, lest they get in the way of the Turkish incursion. On Oct. 13, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Mr. Trump was ordering the remaining American forces out of northern Syria. “We have American forces likely caught between two opposing, advancing armies, and it’s a very untenable situation,” he said. By Oct. 14, the sentiment started to shift. Mr. Trump, in a statement, said American troops “coming out of Syria will now redeploy and remain in the region. By Oct. 20, things were shifting again. Mr. Trump was talking about the need to protect the oil fields in eastern Syria. As of this week, at least half of the original 1,000 American troops in Syria have left, and more will continue to fly or drive out until roughly 250 of that original group are left, largely around Deir al-Zour in the south. Meanwhile, the first few hundred infantry troops, soon to be joined by mechanized troops in Bradley fighting vehicles and possibly a few tanks, have driven in from Iraq. Defense Department officials said the total number of American troops guarding the oil fields would be around 500. When combined with the troops at Al-Tanf, that brings the number of American troops projected to be in Syria to near 900, a number that could easily rise if, as expected, the Islamic State begins to make a comeback.