A U.S. service-member was killed along with another coalition soldier in Syria barely 24 hours after President Donald Trump pledged to extricate the U.S. from the country soon.
One US service member killed in an IED attack in the #Manbij, Syria, area on Thursday, a US official with knowledge of the initial reports from the battlefield tells CNN. Two members of US-led coalition in Syria were killed and five were wounded in the attack, the coalition said
— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) March 30, 2018
“We are going to have 100% of the caliphate, as they call it, sometimes referred to as land … But we are going to be coming out of there real soon. We are going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be,” Trump said, adding “we’re knocking the hell out of ISIS. We’ll be coming out of Syria like very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.”
Trump’s comments, however, are in contrast to the policy advanced by Secretary of Defense James Mattis who has argued for an enduring U.S. presence in Syria to stabilize the country. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson similarly noted in a November speech that the U.S. would remain involved in Syria for some time.