The American withdrawal postpones Operation East Euphrates, and "preachers" attack the Kurds

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul yesterday that Ankara would postpone a planned military operation in northeastern Syria following the US decision to withdraw from Syria. James Matisse, suddenly resigned, the night before, after his disagreement with President Donald Trump in foreign policy, a day after Trump's decision to withdraw its troops from Syria, and withdraw about half of the troops from Afghanistan.

In detail, Erdogan said the Turkish military campaign in northeastern Syria would begin in the coming months, welcoming Washington's decision to withdraw its troops from there.

The Turkish president stressed that Turkey "will cleanse Syria of Kurdish militants and the fugitive hills." "A call with (President) Trump made us wait a little bit for the operation east of the Euphrates, and the waiting period is not open," he said.

He also noted that he agreed with Trump on many issues concerning Syria, saying that "diplomacy with America has reached the desired levels with the start of the withdrawal of US forces from Syria."

During his speech, Erdogan stressed that there is no aspiration for Turkey in Syrian territory, but added: "But we will not risk security."

The White House announced on Monday that US troops would withdraw from eastern Euphrates as the end of their campaign to recapture all the territory controlled by the Da'ash organization. US officials said the withdrawal would take a 60- to 100-day time frame.

The "Syrian Democratic Forces" (Qusd), composed of a Kurdish majority, considered the sudden American withdrawal from eastern Syria a "stab in the back and a betrayal of the blood of thousands of fighters."

The director of the media center of "Qusd", Mustafa Bali, said that the organization «Daash» launched an attack, yesterday, on the positions of troops in a hybrid area in southeastern Syria.

A Kurdish official said yesterday in Paris that Qusd may have to stop fighting extremists in the region if it is forced to redeploy its troops to face a Turkish attack if it happens.

The co-chair of the Qods council, Ilham Ahmed, the political arm of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who came to Paris to discuss the situation in the region after the US president's decision to withdraw his troops from Syria, also warned against "the situation getting out of control" .

"When the Americans were not in the region we were fighting terrorism, we will continue our mission, but in confronting this terrorism it will be difficult because our forces will have to withdraw from the front in Deir al-Zor to take their places on the border with Turkey," she told reporters.

"Under the threats of the Turkish state and the possibility of reviving, we are afraid that the situation will get out of hand and we can not ban them in the area where they are," the Kurdish official said. "This will open the way for their deployment."

The arrest of foreign fighters and members of their families is a burden on Kurdish self-government, with many countries refusing to hand over their citizens who have joined the extremist organization during the years of the Syrian conflict.

On the other hand, Ilham Ahmed called on the French government to provide support to the Kurds. "The French government had clear positions in the past, but it has not been able to change much of the Turkish decision, we hope to play a stronger role at this stage."

For his part, Trump defended his decision to withdraw his country's troops completely from Syria, saying that he "fulfills a pledge made during his campaign." "Getting out of Syria was not a surprise," he said in a series of tweets on Twitter. Six years ago, when I publicly expressed my strong desire to do so, I agreed to stay longer. "

James Mattis, the day before yesterday, announced his resignation, one day after Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria, which was a shock to the American political establishment.

In a letter to Trump, Matisse said, "His view of the world, which tends to traditional alliances and to counter malignations, runs counter to the president's views."

"Because you have the right to have a defense minister whose views are better aligned with your views on these and other issues, I think it is right for me to step down."

Just moments before the Pentagon distributed the message to Matisse, Trump published a gaffe announcing that his defense minister would retire "with distinction" at the end of February.

"During James' tenure, great progress has been made, especially for the purchase of new combat equipment," he said.

"General Mattis has helped me a lot in getting allies and other countries to pay their military quotas. A new defense minister will be named shortly. I would like to thank James for his services. "

Mr Matisse's resignation was not entirely surprising to observers in Washington. Trump has long ignored the advice of his defense minister, especially recently. Trump's decision to withdraw 2,000 troops from Syria was a sudden blow to Matisse, who warned that an early withdrawal from Syria could be a "strategic mistake."

The two men previously clashed over various issues, including the nuclear deal with Iran, from which Trump withdrew in May, while Matisse defended parts of it.

In the meantime, Germany, which received more than a million refugees who fled a large part of them from the war in Syria, questioned Trump's assessment that the threat was over.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there were many questions after the United States decided to withdraw its troops from Syria. "But the decision is a step in the right direction." "There are many questions about how this decision will be implemented, or whether it will be implemented," Lavrov said. "But the decision to withdraw troops illegally in a country is a step in the right direction," he said.

On Washington's intention to withdraw more than half of its troops in Afghanistan, Lavrov said: «The United States exited from Afghanistan, but returned and entered, just as happened in Iraq». He pointed out the need to look at the reality of what is happening on the ground.

US media quoted officials as saying that Trump decided to withdraw nearly half of US troops in Afghanistan.