Former Secretary Schenker said that both Iran and the US are not interested in a full war with each other. \u201cWe all know that Iran is willing to fight the United States and Israel to the last Arab,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will use their proxies and they are cannon fodder for Iran. But it\u2019s another thing if the United States, like Israel, starts going after the IRGC or targets within Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreover, he said that the US is aiming to pivot to Asia and prioritizes Ukraine. \u201cThere\u2019s no desire to get into another war and as we\u2019re talking with Iraq about pulling some troops out.\u201d The US is currently also in talks with Baghdad to wind down the anti-ISIS coalition presence in Iraq. He added that one of the main values of US troops in Iraq is to provide logistical support to the mission of US troops in Syria and \u201cenable our partnership to continue with the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces).\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden Will Not Withdraw from Syria<\/strong><\/p>\n Moreover, he stressed that \u201cif the reports<\/a><\/span> are true, that the Biden administration is considering a pullout from this deployment. Then there\u2019s even less requirement in a way to have 2,500 troops in Iraq to help provide good logistics for these troops in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Schenker underlined that US President Joe Biden will not do anything before the US elections scheduled for November 5, 2024. \u201cBecause he (Biden) already had one disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan (in 2021),\u201d Schenker said. \u201cHe can\u2019t be seen as leaving, and he certainly can\u2019t be seen as leaving another regional country under fire.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, Schenker added that he doesn\u2019t believe the US will remain in Syria indefinitely, akin to its troop presence in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, also because the US was not invited to Syria by Damascus. \u201cThe difference between Syria and those other countries is that those other countries actually want us there.\u201d<\/p>\n Furthermore, he expressed concerns regarding the US potentially withdrawing from Syria or Iraq.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be seen as abandoning our SDF partners. We will be abandoning our role in overseeing along with the SDF, the al-Hol camp, and all these radicalized jihadists\u201450,000 of them, which the Assad regime would no doubt put on boats and send to Europe. You know, this is what President Bashar Assad does.\u201d<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the former US Secretary said that the US can also \u201cdownsize our (military) presence in Iraq and still keep a residual presence in Iraq that allows us to do our work in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s Isolationist Tendencies<\/strong><\/p>\n But he added that if US President Donald Trump were to be re-elected, it remains uncertain whether he would maintain troops in Syria, given the isolationist tendencies within the Republican Party. These tendencies include ideas such as opposing NATO, seeking agreements with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and withholding funding for Ukraine, he stated.<\/p>\n In 2019, US President Donald Trump also attempted to withdraw from Syria amidst a Turkish attack on the SDF. \u201cYou know that the Trump announcement of the pullout from Syria. This happened like two months before I came to work for (Mike) Pompeo and even when this announcement was made, the President eventually changed his mind to some degree.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe only withdrew 200 troops or 300 troops and we still had the vast majority 800 or 850 troops there. So that withdrawal never really happened, although a certain amount of territory was indeed ceded to the Turks.\u201d<\/p>\n Former US Secretary Schenker also emphasized<\/a><\/span> that the idea of the US abandoning the SDF and working with the Assad regime would be \u2018silly\u2019. Remarking:<\/p>\n \u201cThis would end the entire project and Rojava. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a workable plan, either for fighting ISIS or standing by our partners and of course, Turkey would love to see that happen. They would like to be done with the SDF and the Kurdish forces in any type of Kurdish autonomy in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi told Al Monitor<\/a><\/span> that such a plan would be unrealistic since Damascus is not ready for any dialogue and incapable of defending itself against ISIS.<\/p>\n Moreover, the SDF leader recently told<\/a><\/span> reporters that if US forces withdraw, there would be “chaos”, but he added that he received assurance that the US is not leaving Syria soon. He also warned of a resurgence of ISIS.<\/p>\n Schenker also agreed that ISIS still remains a threat in Syria. \u201cI know people like Charles Lister have written about how active ISIS is in Syria. It\u2019s one of their most active provinces, and they launched the majority of their attacks worldwide (from) Syria).\u201d<\/p>\n He also pointed out that Iraqi PM Sudani stated one year ago that ISIS is largely under control in Iraq, but there is concern about a potential spillover from Syria that could pose a problem for Iraq.<\/p>\n\n
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