Reports that President Trump is slowing America’s withdrawal from Syria were confirmed today in a series of Tweets, during which Trump confirmed that the US was “slowly sending our troops back home.”



Though there was never an official timetable for the withdrawal, early reports suggested that the 2,000 US troops believed to be in Syria could be out within 30 days. Now, President Trump is said to be giving the Pentagon four entire months.



In the meantime, the troops are going to be engaged in continued combat with ISIS, and US airstrikes will also continue. President Trump made reference to “ISIS remnants” in his comments.



This presence of remnants has been fueling a lot of the calls among hawkish politicians to just stay in Syria forever, on the grounds that if even a few remain, they’ll quickly regrow into a large organization. Several groups are expected to continue fighting ISIS after the US leaves.

A slow US withdrawal from Syria may interfere with Turkey’s planned invasion of the area they presently occupy. Turkey intends to fight the Kurdish YPG, with whom the US is embedded, and it is presumed they don’t want to do so while the US troops are still there.