The United States began the withdrawal of military equipment from Syria

The US-led coalition to combat the "Islamic State" has begun the process of withdrawing troops from Syria, its official representative said on Friday.

For security reasons, the source did not say what equipment and what transport was taken out of the country. CNN TV channel noted that the withdrawal of equipment was going to start in the north of Syria.

US President Donald Trump Last Month announced intention to withdraw 2 000 US troops who were stationed in Syria to support the Syrian democratic forces in the fight against the militants of the "Islamic State".

The coalition "began the process of targeted withdrawal of troops from Syria," said its spokesman, Colonel Sean Ryan. “For reasons of operational security, we will not discuss specific dates, locations and movement of troops,” he added.

Washington’s Kurdish allies in northern Syria fear that the withdrawal of troops will allow Turkey to launch an offensive in the area, which it has long been threatening to carry out.

However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the withdrawal of troops will not be canceled, despite the threats of Turkey.

Earlier, the plan for the withdrawal of American troops from Syria was criticized in Congress by both republican and democratic legislators.

A full conclusion could mean that Washington will play no role in Syria after the end of the conflict, Republican Senator Marco Rubio warned.

“Everything will be decided by Turkey, Russia, Iran and Asad, but none of them will take our interests into account,” Rubio said.

Rubio noted that the withdrawal of troops could lead to destabilization of the region and provoke a war between the Hezbollah militant group and Israel, a key ally of the United States.

However, Pompeo said that he would meet with Israeli leaders and discuss with other key partners the coordination of the safe withdrawal of American troops and the effective transfer of responsibility for security.

For his part, President Donald Trump defended his plan for withdrawing from Syria, stating that American troops would go home "slowly" while continuing to fight the remaining militants of the Islamic State.

In Moscow, the announcement of the beginning of the withdrawal of troops was met with skepticism.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow wants to get acquainted with the strategy of withdrawing American troops from Syria, which is still unknown to the international community.

“I can’t share the confidence that they are leaving, because we haven’t seen the official strategy,” she said. - We see only a patchwork of statements, messages in social networks, amendments and reaffirmations. And all this only during the last weeks. ”

However, Zakharova stressed that if Washington’s intentions to withdraw its troops from Syria are confirmed, this will be a step in a positive direction.

Recall, the war in Syria began in the 2011 year, several parties are involved in it at once: ISIS terrorists; oppositionists who want to overthrow the power of President Bashar al-Assad, and government troops.

The situation worsened in 2014, when the “Islamic State” announced the creation of its “caliphate” on the territory occupied by the terrorists in the territories of Syria and Iraq. The radical Islamist group called the Syrian city of Raqqah the capital of the “caliphate”, using it as a base for planning terrorist acts in Europe.

According to US estimates, the group controlled an area of ​​about 100 000 square kilometers, where about 8 millions of people lived. It is estimated that the income of the group was nearly one billion dollars a year.

After the joint US-led counter-terrorist operation, as of December 2018, the territories under the control of the Islamic State were 1% of what it controlled in 2014, there are no territories in Iraq at the mercy of militants.

The city of Hadzhin, the last major stronghold of the group in Syria, is projected to also soon be captured by a united coalition led by the United States.

After the loss of Khadzhin, the Islamic State will control the strip along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. Militants also control desert terrain to the west of the river. However, many experts believe that the seizure of the ISIL territory is not a victory for this grouping, since the network of a terrorist organization and its activities does not imply the existence of territories, so the militants may well continue to carry out terrorist acts even without having controlled lands.

The complete withdrawal of American troops from Syria, if it takes place, only slightly reduces the US military presence in the region: about 5200, American soldiers are based in Iraq. Most of the American campaign in Syria was carried out by military planes taking off from Qatar and other places in the Middle East, where the US military is also stationed.

As a result of 7 years of conflict in Syria, hundreds of thousands of people died, about half of the pre-war 22-million population of the country were forced to move to other regions of the state or abroad.