Legislation to withdraw US troops from NE Syria downed on 321-103 vote
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – As the enduring defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) is yet to be reached, US House of Representatives voted down on Wednesday a legislation to withdraw some of 900 US troops from northeast Syria.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. proposed the resolution to withdraw the troops from northeast Syria within 180 days for voting, but opponents of the resolution warned that the withdrawal may grant ISIS a chance to reorganize itself and put the US and its allies at risk.
The resolution, which was introduced after four service members were wounded in a raid in northeast Syria on Feb. 17, failed in a 103-321 vote that split both parties.
Republicans opposed it in a 47-171 vote, and Democrats rejected it in 56-150.
Then the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a press release, in a partnered helicopter raid with the Syrian Democratic Forcers (SDF) a senior ISIS leader “Hamza al-Homsi” was killed and “an explosion on target resulted in four U.S. service members and one working dog wounded.”
Gaetz argued that he did not believe that the 900 US troops deployed in “this hellscape” [Syria] is “what stands between a caliphate and not a caliphate.”
Mike McCaul of R-Texas, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, said, “If we withdraw our troops from Syria now, we could see a resurgence of ISIS or another legal successor in short time.”
McCaul added that withdrawing the US troops from Syria “must be based on the total defeat of ISIS.”
Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democratic member of the committee, said that though he is against keeping an indefinite US military presence in Syria, “this measure forces a premature end to our mission at a critical time for our efforts.”
Rep. Joe Wilson agreed with Meeks, saying that the withdrawal means a “much larger, more complex problem… we don’t need to repeat 9/11.”
In 2019, following a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the US then President Donald Trump on October 6, trump stunned the US Congressmen, national security aides and his allies alike, by announcing the withdrawal of the 2000 US troops from Syria.
The first US military convoy left northeastern Syria to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) on October 21, prompting Kurdish officials to accuse the US administration of failing to keep its promises regarding the security mechanism in protecting northern Syria from any Turkish invasion.
While in February 2020, Trump had retracted his decision and agreed to keep a small US military presence in Syria to maintain the pressure on ISIS.
“Either we fight and defeat them [ISIS] in Syria, or we’ll fight them in the streets of our nation,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont.
On March 4, Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen, paid a surprise visit to evaluate the mission against the ISIS and review protection measures for US troops.