The United States President Donald Trump has said on Wednesday he expected a formal announcement declaring victory over the Islamic State as early as next week that a coalition fighting ISIS militants has reclaimed all of its territories which previously was held by the extremist group.
According to Reuters news reports, the US president told senior officials and foreign ministers from 79 countries that have backed US fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, “Their land is gone. It’s a big factor – their land is gone.” Last year’s Trump’s announcement to withdraw from Syria has prompted many criticisms from democratic lawmaker and republican.
In a Senate testimony on Tuesday, US army general Joseph Votel said that after the American troops’ pullout, the group could experience a resurgence. Though, Trump did not step down from his decision to withdraw saying, “We look forward to giving our brave warriors in Syria a warm welcome home.”
At the Senate department, Trump told the gathering: “The United States military, our coalition partners and the Syrian Democratic Forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.” He said the achievement “should be formally announced, sometime, probably next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate”.
Earlier, the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had reassured the coalition fighting ISIS that Washington’s withdrawal of troops from Syria was not “the end of America’s fight” and further called on the coalition to assist them to permanently defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Pompeo said, “The U.S. troops withdrawing from Syria is not the end of America’s fight. The fight is one we will continue to wage alongside you. The drawdown in troops is essentially a tactical change, it is not a change in the mission. It simply represents a new stage in an old fight.”
Since Trump’s withdrawal announcement, Wednesday’s meeting was the very first of the senior coalition officials defeating ISIS. The meeting was attended by foreign ministers of Iraq, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and France.
Pompeo said, “The coalition must continue to support the government of Iraq in its efforts to secure the liberated areas of that country.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed al-Hakim, on Wednesday, while responding Trump’s comment, called on countries to express full “respect for the territorial integrity of Iraq and for all operations to take place with the knowledge of Iraq, and in consultations with Iraqi security forces”.