Trump late Sunday announced a withdrawal of U.S. forces in northeastern Syria | Win McNamee/Getty Images Trump shrugs off ISIS fighters fleeing Syria: They’ll ‘be escaping to Europe’ The Kurds ‘didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with [the D-Day landings in] Normandy,’ US president says.

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to wash his hands of responsibility for events unfolding in Syria, indicating that if ISIS fighters being held by Kurdish forces manage to get free, “they’re going to be escaping to Europe," not the U.S.

Trump late Sunday announced a withdrawal of U.S. forces in northeastern Syria, effectively exposing American-allied Kurds to Turkish aggression, with Turkey launching airstrikes on northeastern Syria on Wednesday.

Asked whether he was concerned about ISIS fighters fleeing Kurdish custody and becoming a threat elsewhere, Trump said during a press conference on Wednesday: “Well they’re going to be escaping to Europe. That's where they want to go, they want to go back to their homes.”

Trump also said that Turkey and the Kurds had been "fighting each other for centuries," adding that the Kurds "didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with [the D-Day landings in] Normandy."

Later, Trump said on Twitter that two British militants known as "The Beatles" had been moved out of a detention center in Syria and were in American custody. "In case the Kurds or Turkey lose control, the United States has already taken the 2 ISIS militants tied to beheadings in Syria, known as the Beetles [sic], out of that country and into a secure location controlled by the U.S. They are the worst of the worst!"

The comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the Trump administration’s withdrawal of military support for Kurdish forces in Syria, and denied it had granted permission for Turkish aggression, saying: “The United States didn’t give Turkey a green light.”