BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:45 A.M.) – The Wall Street Journal claimed on Sunday that the U.S. military had decided to keep nearly 1,000 soldiers inside Syria, which is more than double than the previous number reported by the U.S. administration last month.
However, shortly after the WSJ report went live, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford said in a statement that these claims were in fact false.
“A claim reported this evening by a major U.S. newspaper that the U.S. military is developing plans to keep nearly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria is factually incorrect,” General Dunford said.
“There has been no change to the plan announced in February and we continue to implement the President’s direction to draw down U.S. forces to a residual presence.”
According to General Dunford, the U.S. will “conduct detailed military planning with the Turkish General Staff to address Turkish security concerns along the Turkey-Syria border.”
“Planning to date has been productive and we have an initial concept that will be refined in the coming days,” he said.
“We are also conducting planning with other members of the Coalition who have indicated an intent to support the transition phase of operations into Syria,” General Dunford added.
110 - 110Shares
Be Civil
This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion
Please treat this discussion with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgment of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
Make it better
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
Now the hard part!
Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree
You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.