U.S. military is in the process of withdrawing nearly all of the 1000 or so US troops that helped stabilize northern Syria. A US military spokesman says it has pulled out of Manbij, Syria - to make way for Russian-backed Syrian forces who have taken over the abandoned U.S. base.
Significance of American base now effectively under Russian control: in 2016, U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds captured the city from ISIS - whose fighters had used it to ferry foreign fighters in and out of Turkey and to smuggle looted artifacts out of Syria to fund their insurgency.
Pence going to Turkey to end what US military officials privately are describing as ethnic cleansing. "The United States of America is simply not going to tolerate Turkey's invasion of Syria any further. And we're calling on Syria to stand down to end the violence," and negotiate
Recently retired Army Maj Gen Malcolm Frost says it is too late: "The deed has been done. So what's happening is we've already lost our reputation. We have abandoned an ally, and thirdly, those ISIS prisoners are going to escape."
Defense Secretary Mark Esper says Turkey is responsible for any ISIS resurgence. In a statement, Esper accused Turkish President Erdogan of committing possible war crimes that have QUOTE: "resulted in the release of many dangerous ISIS detainees."
Defense Secretary Esper will travel to NATO headquarters next week in Brussels to determine how the alliance can stop NATO ally Turkey. Keep in mind the U.S. still stores about 50 nuclear weapons at a Turkish airbase.
