Mitch McConnell rebukes Donald Trump's plan to pull US troops out of northern Syria

LOUISVILLE — Though he and President Donald Trump often agree, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he is against the president's move to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria.

The White House announced the decision late Sunday night as Turkey prepares a military assault against Kurdish fighters who helped the U.S. battle the Islamic State.

Trump defended the decision on Twitter Monday, saying it was time to "get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home." He added that "WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN" and that "Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out."

However, McConnell rebuked the move in a statement issued Monday, saying "ISIS and al Qaeda remain dangerous forces in Syria."

"A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime," McConnell said. "And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup."

Background: Graham says Trump's Syria pullout abandons Kurds, helps ISIS

McConnell urged Trump to reverse the decision and to keep fighting ISIS.

Though McConnell opposes Trump's decision, his Republican counterpart from Kentucky, Sen. Rand Paul, voiced support for the president.

"I stand with @realDonaldTrump today as he once again fulfills his promises to stop our endless wars and have a true America First foreign policy," Paul tweeted Monday.

But the Senate majority leader was far from alone in his pushback against the Trump administration. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Trump's decision "will be a stain on America's honor for abandoning the Kurds," and "we have sent the most dangerous signal possible – America is an unreliable ally."

Additionally, Nikki Haley, Trump's former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke out against the move, tweeting, “The Kurds were instrumental in our successful fight against ISIS in Syria. Leaving them to die is a big mistake."

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other administration officials had promised the U.S. would ensure that "the Turks don't slaughter the Kurds." The Kurdish fighters in Syria are known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the Kurdish forces in Syria to be terrorists allied with Kurdish insurgents within his country and has long threatened a military incursion into the area.

Foreign policy experts, as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers, have warned that allowing Turkey into the region could lead to a massacre of the Kurds and would be seen as an American betrayal of a vital military ally.

Contributing: William Cummings, David Jackson and Deirdre Shesgreen.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mitch McConnell rebukes Trump's plan to pull troops out of Syria