SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
US has begun pulling equipment, not troops from Syria: official
Washington, Jan 11 (AFP) Jan 11, 2019
The US military has started moving non-essential equipment out of Syria but it is not withdrawing troops for now, a defense official said Friday as the Pentagon sought to clarify an earlier statement.

"We are not withdrawing troops at this stage," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, US military spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan had said the US had begun "the process of our deliberate withdrawal" from Syria.

President Donald Trump last month claimed the Islamic State group had been defeated and said US troops would return home "now."

A second US defense official said the military had conducted a number of preparations for a deliberate withdrawal.

"That includes planning for the moving of people and equipment, preparation of facilities to accept retrograde equipment," the official said, noting that no troops had been withdrawn yet.

The Pentagon stressed it would not telegraph its troop movements or give timelines for when they may leave Syria.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Maven stays silent after routine pass behind Mars
ICE-CSIC leads a pioneering study on the feasibility of asteroid mining
NASA JPL Unveils Rover Operations Center for Moon, Mars Missions

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Thorium plated steel points to smaller nuclear clocks
Solar ghost particles seen flipping carbon atoms in underground detector
Overview Energy debuts airborne power beaming milestone for space based solar power

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Autonomous DARPA project to expand satellite surveillance network by BAE Systems
IAEA calls for repair work on Chernobyl sarcophagus
Momentus joins US Space Force SHIELD contract vehicle

24/7 News Coverage
UAlbany Atmospheric Scientist Proposes Innovative Method to Reduce Aviation's Climate Impact
Digital twin successfully launched and deployed into space
Robots that spare warehouse workers the heavy lifting



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.