Syria: America begins withdrawal and Turkey mobilizes for the battle of East Euphrates

The US military on Friday began withdrawing military equipment from Syria, and Turkey confirmed it would launch a military operation in eastern Euphrates, while US national security adviser John Bolton agreed to reach an agreement with the Turks in next week's talks.

Less than a month after US President Donald Trump announced his surprise decision to withdraw troops from Syria, the international coalition against the US-led Islamic State Organization announced today the start of withdrawal.

"The Joint Task Force - Solid Determination - has begun our planned withdrawal from Syria," coalition spokesman Sean Ryan said in a statement, declining to give details on the timetable for the operation and locations or troop movements for security reasons.

According to field sources, the withdrawal began from Rumailan in the province of Hasaka in northeastern Syria.

The Washington-led coalition has bases elsewhere in northern Syria and neighboring Iraq, where Trump said his country's troops would remain.

The alliance, which includes countries including France and Britain, is in mid-2014 to face the expansion of state regulation. The fate of the troops of the other coalition countries remains unclear, but French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Laudriane said yesterday that his country would withdraw from Syria when a "political solution" to the conflict was reached.

The start of the US withdrawal coincided with a tour by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the Middle East, where he confirmed from Egypt yesterday that the withdrawal will be despite the widespread criticism of him.

Bolton said in a radio interview that talks between US military officials and their Turkish counterparts on the Kurds and Syria would continue next week, hoping to reach acceptable results from both countries.

He added that Trump and Pompeo know that Turkey is committed to "not harm the Kurds who fought with us against the organization of the Islamic state."

Turkish Alert
In the meantime, Turkish Defense Minister Khulosi Akar said that his country has prepared plans for the upcoming military operation east of the Euphrates in Syria.

Akar, commander of the ground forces, Omit Dondar, and the Turkish military contingent stationed on the border with Syria, said in a statement during his visit.

"The terrorists will be buried east of the Euphrates in the holes they dug in the right place and time, as was the case during previous operations," he said.

"The Turkish state is resolutely determined to end terrorism wherever it is, both inside and outside its borders," he said. "Terrorists are our only target and every one who is arrogant knows that we have no problem with our Kurdish brethren with whom we are like flesh and nail."

But Russia, which questions the US withdrawal, still has reservations about the Turkish military operation. "The Syrian government forces are the ones who must regain the areas from which the US military will withdraw," the Russian foreign ministry said.