The Story from i24News:
The United States does not want to be the 'Policeman' of the Middle East, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday as he defended his controversial decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria. 'Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting nothing, but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight....,' he tweeted.
Trump added: 'Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us.' 'I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!'
The U.S. withdrawal could have major geopolitical ramifications, and plunges into uncertainty the fate of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters who have been tackling Islamic State jihadists, thousands of whom are thought to remain in Syria. A SDF spokesman hinted the US pullout, which many Kurds see as a betrayal, could make Syria's autonomous Kurdish administration less inclined to retain custody of detained IS fighters whom Western countries do not want to return home.
'We have previously said that, if attacked, we would dedicate ourselves to the defence of our land,' Mustefa Bali said. 'The scenario of a halt in the anti-terrorist battle is tied to Turkish threats,' the SDF spokesman added. Bali did not suggest the Kurds would release detained jihadists but argued that Turkey risked targeting prisons in order to wreak chaos.
'Of course, if Turkey attacks, it will affect the fate of these prisoners,' he said. "Turkey may target these prisons as it tries to release these terrorists.' The Kurds have repeatedly complained they do not have the capacity to handle the burden of more than 3,000 IS detainees and family members, urging Western powers to repatriate their nationals for trial at home.