During his visit to the United States, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Ankar has on Friday warned the Pentagon officials against the vacuum of power in the region of Syria during the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
According to Sputnik news reports, Turkey’s warning came amid reports of Washington plan to leave roughly about 400 American troops in Syria. US has planned to stationed 200 troops at the northeastern Syria and another 200 troops near the Jordanian border, The Washington Post has on Friday reported citing a senior official.
The US joint chief of staff chairman general John Dunford told the reporters that the allies will step up in Syria after the US withdraws its military forces from the region.
The White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders has, in an earlier statement, said the US would leave a small peacekeeping group of around 200 troops in Syria “for a period of time”.
“I applaud President Trump’s decision to leave a small contingent of American forces in Syria as part of an international stabilizing force,” Graham said on Thursday. “This will ensure ISIS [IS]* does not return and Iran does not fill the vacuum that would have been left if we completely withdrew.”
After a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it is important to prevent a emergency of vacuum of power in Syria following American personnel’s withdrawal from the war-torn Arab republic.