A new resignation from the Trump team in protest against the decision to withdraw from Syria

The US envoy to the International Alliance Against the Islamic State Organization, Brig. Gen. Brett McGurk, resigned on Saturday amid expectations that he would be opposed to President Trump's decision to withdraw his forces from Syria, while Tehran considered the US presence in the region a mistake from the start.

McClurek will leave office at the end of this month and was due to leave office in February.

According to informed sources, his resignation came because of his strong opposition to Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria. CBS reported that McGuck told US Defense Secretary James Matisse, who resigned two days ago for the same reasons, that he strongly opposed the decision. That it would be reckless to withdraw from Syria in the current period.

Meanwhile, Trump again defended his decision, saying in a tweet that the original mission of US troops there was for three months, seven years ago.

He added that the state organization was defeated on a large scale, and that regional countries - including Turkey - must be able to carry out what is left to complete the defeat of the organization, and concluded by saying "we are returning to our homes."

Fox News quoted a Pentagon official as saying there were more resignations in the ministry after Trump's decision, and other sources - not even named - said Matisse tried to convince Trump before resigning to change his mind, to no avail.

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump had a good relationship with the outgoing defense minister, "although they sometimes disagree." "The president usually listens to his security team, but he is the one who makes the decision in the end," she said.

Qasmi: The presence of foreign forces in the region has only brought difference and division (Al Jazeera)

Iran
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasimi said that the American forces' entry into the region was a mistake and illogical from the beginning, considering that the presence of foreign forces in the region over the past decades on various pretexts had no benefit and brought only difference and division.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured the prime minister that Washington's commitment remains to fight the state organization in Iraq and elsewhere, even after the expected pullout from Syria, Reuters quoted Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's office as saying.

He said Abdul-Mahdi also discussed with Pompeo Washington's decision to grant Iraq a 90-day extension to exempt from sanctions against Iran, which would allow Baghdad to buy electricity from Tehran.

For his part, Iraqi President Barham Salih called for the withdrawal of US troops from Syria to be an important factor for achieving peace. He called for taking into consideration Iraq's situation and its lack of regional and international tensions during a telephone call from Pompeo.

Manbj
On the other hand, sources told the island that an American military convoy headed to the village of "Taheih" in the vicinity of the city of Manbj (north of Aleppo), under the control of the "Syrian Democratic Forces," after receiving information on the Syrian regime brought military crowds intent on breaking into Manbj as soon as troops withdraw American ones.

A convoy of armored vehicles of the Turkish army and police teams arrived in the southern Turkish province of Khelis and Turkish military sources said the troops were coming to reinforce the military units deployed along the border with Syria.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Gawishoglu criticized the reception of officials of the "Syrian Democratic Forces" in France, accusing France and other Western countries of supporting the "terrorist organizations" in Syria, saying that this will not prevent Turkey from defeating them.