Syrian Conflict

[Michael]

Originally Posted by Tom Palven

Mattis signs order to remove US troops from Syria:
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/12/24/...ps-from-syria/

Yes indeed. Not really much of anything given that the US actually has only 2000 'trainers' in Syria to pull out.

The real question that screams out to me is why the USA is so gawd-awful bad at training these third world armies. Vietnam, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq & Syria all featured a massive and continuous attempt by US military to train local troops over a period of years and all ended in absolute and unmitigated failure.

[Michael]

It is kind of hard to figure out what is actually happening with US forces in Syri these days.

Trump first announced a full pull-out, but then a week later the Pentagon walked that back almost entirely. Now apparently there is a six month timetable for a draw-down of US troops in Syria.

Keep in mind that US has only about 2000 'troops' in Syria - and they are technically or officially classified as 'trainers'. In other words, Special Forces types along with US-backed mercenaries.

Anyway, the status of these US forces seems to change from week-to-week.