Trump declares victory on ISIS, announces troop withdrawal from Syria

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it was pulling all U.S. troops out of Syria, with the president declaring that the Islamic State had been defeated. However, just the day before the State Department had stressed that the fight against ISIS was not yet over. Since the White House's announcement, some GOP senators have publicly criticized the move.

What about Syria?

Syria has been embroiled in a civil war for nearly eight years. The Islamic State took advantage of this turmoil to take over Syrian territory in its quest to create an Islamic caliphate.

The United States currently has more than 2,000 troops in Syria as part of a campaign to defeat the Islamic State. These troops are largely engaged in training local troops who support the U.S. cause.

The U.S. has been allies in its fight by Syrian Kurds, who are now under an assault of their own from Turkey, which views all Kurds as terrorists. Turkey's repeated incursions against Kurdish strongholds in Syria have strained its relationship with the United States.

What did Trump say?

On Wednesday, the White House announced that the U.S. is pulling all troops from Syria.

We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018

Trump has been pushing for the end of the U.S. presence in Syria for a while now. In April, the White House announced that the U.S. mission there was coming to a "rapid end." However, at the time the State Department said it was not aware of any plan to withdraw, and U.S. Kurdish allies seemed surprised.

A U.S. official told Reuters that the withdrawal was expected to take place over a period of 60 to 100 days.

Pentagon Spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement:

The Coalition has liberated the ISIS-held territory, but the campaign against ISIS is not over. We have started the process of returning U.S. troops home from Syria as we transition to the next phase of the campaign. For force protection and operational security reasons we will not provide further details. We will continue working with our partners and allies to defeat ISIS wherever it operates.

Earlier in December, the U.S. led coalition called "[a]ny reports indicating a change in the US position" in Syria "is false and designed to sow confusion and chaos," according to CNN.

Some GOP senators have criticized the move

After the announcement, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released a series of tweets. In two of those tweets, he called the withdrawal "a huge Obama-like mistake." Graham said that, despite Trump's declaration, ISIS had not yet been defeated in Syria, and that a withdrawal would endanger U.S. Kurdish allies.

Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake. https://t.co/atsjHUyJlB
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

With all due respect, ISIS is not defeated in Syria, Iraq, and after just returning from visiting there -- certainly not Afghanistan.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

President @realDonaldTrump is right to want to contain Iranian expansion.

However, withdrawal of our forces in Syria mightily undercuts that effort and put our allies, the Kurds at risk.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

A decision to withdraw will also be viewed as a boost to ISIS desire to come back.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake. https://t.co/028NOsbyzT
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

With all due respect, ISIS is not defeated in Syria, Iraq, and after just returning from visiting there -- certainly not Afghanistan.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

President @realDonaldTrump is right to want to contain Iranian expansion.

However, withdrawal of our forces in Syria mightily undercuts that effort and put our allies, the Kurds at risk.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

A decision to withdraw will also be viewed as a boost to ISIS desire to come back.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also spoke out against the move, calling it a "terrible mistake" and a "grave error that is going to have incredible consequences, that potentially have not been fully thought through. In a Facebook video, he warned that while ISIS has been "significantly degraded" it is "not fair or wise to say it has been defeated."