Bolton: US forces will stay in Syria until Iran and its proxies leave

John Bolton, a White House security advisor, said on Monday that the United States would not leave Syria until Iranian forces continue to operate, suggesting that the Trump administration has expanded its mission beyond the defeat of the Islamic State.

Bolton made the comments to reporters in New York prior to President Trump's speech to the UN General Assembly, directly linking any future withdrawal of US troops from Syria from the Iranian forces of the nation. Iran has joined Russia and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in an eight-year war.

"We will not leave until the Iranian troops are outside Iran's borders and that includes the Iranian proxies and the militias," Bolton said, according to the Associated Press.

For years, the Pentagon has said that the US military mission in Syria will end once US forces have defeated the Islamic State and secured the territory occupied by the group. The fight against the Iranian forces has not been part of the US military mission to date. Until now, the army has not received orders from the White House to alter its operations in the country to counter Iran.

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon hours after Bolton's remarks, said the US military mission in Syria remained focused solely on the defeat of ISIS.

"Right now, our troops inside Syria are here for a reason and it's under US authorization to have defeated the Islamic State," said Mattis. "Our troops are here for that."

Mattis said both Iran and Russia contributed to the instability in Syria, adding that US forces would not leave abruptly and expose people recently released from ISIS to a resurgence of violence.

Comments from the two main national security officials raised questions about whether the Trump administration had adopted a new policy on Syria. Theoretically, the US military could formally remain in the country for a mission to defeat ISIS and prevent its resurgence, but it nonetheless continues to agree to an agreement by Iran to withdraw its forces from the nation.

The Pentagon's long-running campaign of empowering and assisting local Kurdish and Arab militias in their fight against ISIS in Syria has recently reached its final test in the Euphrates Valley in southeastern Syria. fighters and air strikes.

This year, President Trump demanded an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Syria. He later instructed his national security team to prepare for a withdrawal in the near future, once the US forces successfully completed ISIS.

But in recent months, this policy seemed to change to support a long-term US military presence in the country.

James Jeffrey, US Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said that in addition to the attempted defeat of the Islamic State, the president has accepted an indefinite effort in the country, with the aim of ensuring the exit of all Iranian military and proxy forces from this war-torn nation. Represent Mike Pompeo for involvement in Syria. Jeffrey said this month that US forces would stay in the country to ensure an Iranian departure, a sentiment that Bolton seemed to echo on Monday.

"This means we are in no hurry," he said, adding that "I am convinced that the President agrees with that".

The possible change in the Trump administration's approach came as Bolton, a long-time hawk from Iran, took over from HR McMaster as the president's senior adviser on national security. Bolton pleaded for the administration's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and criticized the Obama administration for developing a strategy against the Islamic State that might strengthen Tehran's position.

"The result is that today, while the caliphate of the Islamic State is disintegrating, Iran has established an arc of control of Iran at the end of the day. Iraq going through the Assad regime in Syria until Hezbollah in Lebanon, "Bolton wrote in October 2017 before joining the White House. "If this disposition of forces persists, Iran will have an invaluable geostrategic position for possible future use against Israel, Jordan or the oil monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula."

Now that Bolton is coordinating the national security policy, the Trump administration seems to want to use the approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria to break that control arc.

The legal basis on which the US military is operating in Syria is a 17-year-old congressional law that allowed US military forces to attack the perpetrators of the 11th attacks. September 2001, namely al-Qaeda and organizations. The army considers the Islamic State, which was born in al-Qaeda Iraq, an associated organization. The permission says nothing about Iran.

Asked at the Pentagon this month about the possibility of a prolonged military presence in Syria, Mattis said the administration remained aligned with his policies but did not say the army had expanded its mission to expel troops and the Iranian militias of the country.

"We work in Syria," said Mattis. "As you know, right now the authority has to go after ISIS, and that's what we continue to do."

Mattis said that it was up to the president to decide whether US forces should stay in Syria in the longer term as a bulwark against Iran, saying he was ready to give his opinion on the question and suggesting that a decision on a longer term presence has not taken place. was done.

"I'm ready for a conversation," said Mattis. "But it would be a decision of the President of the United States."