It’s telling that mechanized units are deploying to guard oil fields. We NEVER deployed mechanized units to Syria over four brutal years of the ISIS campaign. This suggests planners believe the positions are vulnerable after we abandoned 2/3 of NE Syria.
Mechanized units are more expensive, harder to sustain, and require more manpower than the SOF-focused mission we’ve had in Syria since 2015. So Trump is on track to spend MORE taxpayer money and deploy MORE troops for an ill-defined mission sewn from self-inflicted chaos.
This larger US deployment comes in addition to the 14,000 US personnel deployed to the Middle East since May. So when Trump says he’s bringing troops home, he’s either ignorant of what’s happening under his command — or he’s lying.
Despite this new force, we apparently stand helpless to deter war crimes and population displacement our sudden retreat across NE Syria unleashed. That’s happening under airspace the US reportedly still controls. Totally incoherent, indefensible, immoral. washingtonpost.com/world/middle_e…
