US troops leave Syria as Kurdish fighters & civilians withdraw from Turkey's 'safe zone' | ABC News
Published Date: 10/21/2019
Source: ABC News (Australia)
The United States has evacuated Sarrin military base — the last major US base in northern Syria — with convoys of American troops crossing into Iraq. US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said all US troops leaving Syria would go to western Iraq, where they would continue operations against the Islamic State. President Donald Trump previously stated he was "bringing soldiers home" after announcing the withdrawal earlier this month, a move that cleared the way for a Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces who fought alongside the US against IS. Just an hour after US troops moved through, the survivors of the brutal battle for the town of Ras al-Ain drove along the same road having finally been allowed to leave by Turkish-backed militias. The Kurdish withdrawal is critical to avoiding more attacks from Turkey when a US-brokered ceasefire expires on Tuesday. Local Kurds stood at the main intersection in Tal Tamr, which sits just outside a "safe zone" that Turkey said it would occupy, to protest the Turkish invasion. Hundreds of civilians have fled to the town over the past week to escape advancing Turkish forces. They were mostly silent as the US convoy drove past, although one man started a chant of "death to the betrayers". Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-21/us-troops-leave-syria-sarrin-base-turkey-kurdish-fighters/11621846 For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY If you're in Australia, you can watch more ABC News content on iview: https://ab.co/2mge4KH Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Go deeper on our ABC News In-depth channel: https://ab.co/2lNeBn2 You can also like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/abcnews.au Or follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/abcnews_au Or even on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abcnews