Mattis resigns, protesting Syria withdrawal, worried about fate of Syrian Kurds

Mattis’ resignation came one day after Trump ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Syria, where they, along with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)...

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – On Thursday, Jim Mattis announced his resignation as US Secretary of Defense, and the Pentagon’s press office distributed his resignation letter to journalists.

Although President Donald Trump tweeted that Mattis was retiring, the Secretary’s letter made clear that he was resigning in objection to Trump’s policies.

Mattis’ resignation came one day after Trump ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Syria, where they, along with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have been battling the Islamic State.

As of Thursday evening, Mattis had yet to sign the order to execute the withdrawal. Usually, once such an order is signed, there are 120 days to implement it, CNN reported.

Earlier on Thursday, Mattis met with Trump in a last ditch attempt to convince the president to keep US troops in Syria. Rebuffed, Mattis told Trump that he was resigning, The New York Times reported.

Mattis’ resignation will take effect at the end of February.

Among Mattis’ concerns are the fate of Syria’s Kurds. He believes that “the day we leave, it’s going to be open season on every Kurd who’s supported us,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R, South Carolina) told a Capitol Hill news conference.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) shares that concern. Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani, formerly President of the Kurdistan Region, expressed his hope that the US decision does “not cause more violence and war,” while the Director of the KRG’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center warned of “a humanitarian crisis which will result in new waves of refugees to Kurdistan.”

The SDF holds over 700 Islamic State fighters, a significant number of whom came from Western countries. However, those countries declined to repatriate them for prosecution at home. Now, given the SDF’s precarious state, they may well be released and return to fight again, which is another of Mattis’ concerns, Graham explained.

US commanders are scrambling to draw up plans to withdraw the approximately 2000 US troops in Syria, while the State Department has already ordered an emergency evacuation of its staff there.

US airstrikes will continue until all US troops have left Syria and may continue longer, if French troops remain there.

Paris has strongly criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces, arguing that the fight against the Islamic State is not over. It has said that it will keep its troops there for now, while French officials are to meet with two senior Kurdish representatives on Friday.

France has suffered several major terrorist assaults, since the rise of the Islamic State. The most notable was a series of coordinated attacks on November 13, 2015, that killed 130 people in the center of Paris.

The last terrorist incident was a shooting at Strasbourg’s Christmas Market which killed five people just ten days ago.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Trump on Tuesday, in an effort to convince him not to withdraw, but Macron was not successful. A French presidency source complained that Trump was “cutting corners, risking a serious accident,” Reuters reported.

Only one major world leader has publicly supported Trump: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who praised Trump’s decision on Thursday in his annual, multi-hour marathon press conference.

Mattis resigns, protesting Syria withdrawal, worried about fate of Syrian Kurds
Mattis resigns, protesting Syria withdrawal, worried about fate of Syrian Kurds