SYRIA — President Trump has ordered full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, after claiming on Wednesday the Islamic State group had been "defeated."
"We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency," the president said in a Twitter post Wednesday morning.
According to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement, "we have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign."
According to Reuters, the decision for a total pull out coincides with the approximately 2,000 U.S. troops finishing up a campaign to retake territory held by Islamic State militants.
One U.S. official told Reuters the administration is looking to withdraw troops within 60 to 100 days and the U.S. State Department was evacuating all personnel in Syria within 24 hours.
According the BBC, U.S. troops have largely been stationed in the Kurdish region in northern Syria.
A partnership with an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, is said to have played a major role in the elimination of IS forces throughout the territory.
Many of the remaining U.S. soldiers in Syria are special operations forces working closely with the SDF.
