A fighter of U.S-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council stands next to U.S. humvee at a U.S. troop's outpost north of Manbij, Syria. | Hussein Malla/AP Photo In shift, White House says U.S. mission in Syria 'coming to a rapid end' The statement stops short of laying out any plans for troop withdrawal.

The U.S. military mission in Syria "is coming to a rapid end," the White House said on Wednesday in an announcement that fell well short of President Donald Trump's comments last week that American troops would leave the country "very soon."

The White House statement claimed that the Islamic State is "almost completely destroyed" but that the United States remains "committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated.”


It did not set a fixed date for a withdrawal of the estimated 2,000 American troops in the war-ravaged Arab country.

"We will continue to consult with our allies and friends regarding future plans," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders added in the statement. It came a day after deliberations among top administration officials over Trump's impromptu pullout pledge.

The statement is in keeping with Trump’s 2016 campaign rhetoric, which decried long and costly Middle East engagements. But it marks a shift from administration policy as previously stated by officials like Defense Secretary James Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who have stressed that the U.S. has goals in post-civil war Syria that extend beyond the fight against ISIS — including checking Iranian influence.

Key U.S. allies in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, are also worried that Iran will maintain a long-term military presence in Syria after its military and militias helped to prop up the government of Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

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In remarks to reporters Tuesday, Trump suggested that U.S. allies might have to foot the bill for a continued American presence in the region. “Saudi Arabia is very interested in our decision. And I said, ‘Well, you know, you want us to stay, maybe you’re going to have to pay,” he said.

An American exit from Syria could also be good news for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also came to Assad’s aid and has sought to extend his country’s influence in the Middle East.

The U.S. and Russia have had tense encounters in western Syria, and in mid-February U.S. forces killed scores of Russian mercenaries who had reportedly threatened a position held by U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish fighters. (The Kremlin denied knowledge of the mercenaries’ activities.)

The White House's statement suggests that the decision was to leave troops in Syria at least until more territory has been wrested from ISIS — and not to announce a withdrawal timeline.

Speaking Tuesday at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Brett McGurk, the senior official overseeing the diplomatic side of the fight against the Islamic State, said, “We’re in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission. Our mission isn’t over and we’re going to complete that mission.”

McGurk was speaking at the same time Trump, appearing with Baltic leaders at the White House , declared: “I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home."

