News Analysis |
The U.S President Donald Trump in yet another surprising move tweeted the abrupt ending of the U.S mission in Syria and announced the withdrawal of all 2000 troops stationed there. The development came as a surprise for the U.S allies including Trump’s own advisors. Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”
We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018
“The execute order has been signed for the withdrawal of American troops from Syria, where they had been deployed to assist in the war against the Islamic State group”, a US military spokesperson has said.
The failure of the U.S efforts in Syria was an open declaration of the resurge of Russia into the global strategic landscape, a force which was tangled in the quagmire of domestic instability after the fall of Soviet Union.
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders while talking to the press hinted at an alternative discourse which was widely interpreted as just a cover-up pill to give the allies some hope.
“Five years ago, Isis was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate,” Sanders said. “We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign.”
A Win for Putin
The U.S mission in Syria was instrumental for keeping a check at the ISIS, which is a benign force at the moment, apart from making sure that Iran does not get to hold too much of strategic depth inside war-torn Syria. It is a no secret that the United States of America employed all resources at its disposal to bring a regime change in Syria– an effort which was spoiled by Russia and with a significant contribution of Iran.
Read more: Trump declares victory over IS in Syria, orders US troops home
While the rest of the nation– shook by the Arab spring– actually went on for a transition of government, Syria President Bashar Al Assad held his position, courtesy of his old allies. The failure of the U.S efforts in Syria was an open declaration of the resurge of Russia into the global strategic landscape, a force which was tangled in the quagmire of domestic instability after the fall of Soviet Union.
The Receding Threat of Iran
As far Iran is concerned, it has once again been pushed back to the pre-JCPOA condition where to keep the country going and hold the deflating economy became the priority of the Iranian intelligentsia once again. The return of the tariffs from the U.S to Iran for its open ballistic program and the strategic push inside the Middle East has once again crippled the U.S economy.
“I strongly disagree. It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” Ellwood said in a tweet.
Therefore, another reason to keep the troops inside Syria was grounded. It is yet to be seen how Saudi Arabia and Israel respond to the latest unorthodox decision of the President Trump’s policy as the fall out of Iran’s brute force is ultimately taken by these two countries according to the equation.
Has ISIS Really been Defeated?
Minutes before President Trump’s tweet in which he declared victory over ISIS, a bomb-riddled Syrian city of Raqqa and the responsibility was taken by ISIS. The claim of an absolute victory over the group, which was the “sole reason to stay in Syria” as per President Trump, is contested and contradicted by his own allies.
Read more: US will withdraw troops from Syria ‘very soon’: Trump
Both the UK and France have troops in Syria and the UK’s junior defense minister, Tobias Ellwood, rejected Trump’s claim that Isis had been defeated in Syria. “I strongly disagree. It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive,” Ellwood said in a tweet. French President Emmanuel Macron has also criticized President Trump’s decision, saying “an ally must be reliable”.
It makes the on-ground situation clear that the phenomena of extremism even according to the U.S and western version of it, is very much existent. It ultimately brings to the conclusion that the efforts against terrorism are probably used as a disguise by the major players in the game and when the strategic objectives are achieved, or lost in this case, the created bogies in the process are left to spread the havoc. The victims of the strategic tussle between the nations are ultimately the common people.