Order signed for US military's Syria exit

Turkey promises to prevent power vacuum in wake of Trump's decision

WASHINGTON - The order to withdraw US troops from Syria has been signed, the US military said on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart agreed to prevent a power vacuum in the wake of the controversial move.

The announcement that US troops would leave the civil war-racked country-where they have been deployed to assist in the multinational fight against the Islamic State group-shocked global partners and US politicians alike.

"The execute order for Syria has been signed," a US military spokesperson said when asked about the withdrawal order, without providing further details.

Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone on Sunday and "agreed to ensure coordination between their countries' military, diplomatic and other officials to avoid a power vacuum which could result following any abuse of the withdrawal and transition phase in Syria", the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

Late on Sunday, Trump tweeted that Erdogan had assured him that any remaining IS militants in Syria will be eliminated.

"President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria," Trump said in a Tweet around midnight on Sunday, using another acronym for the extremist group.

Repeating a pattern of admiring comments toward global strongmen, Trump added that Erdogan "is a man who can do it".

The US president concluded: "Our troops are coming home!"

US politicians-including those from his own Republican Party-and international allies fear the withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 US troops is premature and would further destabilize the already devastated region.

Plans for the troop withdrawal will now be overseen by Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who Trump on Sunday said would replace Mattis starting from Jan 1.

Until Trump finds a permanent Pentagon chief, Shanahan will lead plans for US troops to leave Syria along with a significant drawdown in Afghanistan, both of which critics worry will leave war-torn regions at risk of continued and potentially heightened bloodshed.

A US withdrawal, said Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish affairs analyst, will open the way "for Turkey to start its operations against the Kurds, and a bloody war will begin".

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said he "deeply regretted" Trump's decision, and that "an ally must be reliable".

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday played down Israeli concerns over the US pullout, saying his country will continue to act against Iranian forces in Syria.

"I would like to reassure those who are concerned," he said at the weekly cabinet meeting. "Our cooperation with the United States will continue in full and finds expression in many areas."

This cooperation includes joint operations, intelligence information, and "many other security spheres", he added.

"We will continue to act against Iran's attempts to entrench itself militarily in Syria," Netanyahu noted.

Trump said last week that the Islamic State militant group had been defeated and the United States will withdraw its forces from Syria.

The move is expected to end US involvement in the war-torn country and allow Turkey to attack the Syrian Kurdish fighters, who were US allies during the anti-IS war.

Israel is concerned about Iranian forces, who are fighting in Syria alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Iran-backed Shiite militia.

The Israeli air force has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against what it says are Iranian military sites and weapons convoys to Hezbollah.

In addition, Israel has often responded to errant fire from the fighting between Syrian army forces and rebels near the border with artillery fire against Assad's army positions.

AFP-Xinhua