A man carries a child rescued from rubble after Syrian regime and Russian air strikes in the rebel-held town of Nawa, about 30 kilometres north of Daraa in southern Syria on June 26, 2018. Ahmad Al-Msalam | AFP | Getty Images

Throughout the weekend and the morning of Christmas Eve, Trump defended his decision on Twitter and tweeted barbs at critics, including Mattis, McGurk and Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Then came the tweet trumpeting the Saudi commitment to rebuild Syria. "Saudi Arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild Syria, instead of the United States," Trump said. "See? Isn't it nice when immensely wealthy countries help rebuild their neighbors rather than a Great Country, the U.S., that is 5000 miles away. Thanks to Saudi A!" On Wednesday, the White House clarified that Trump's tweet was not meant to announce a new commitment from Saudi Arabia. "The United States welcomes the contributions of all Coalition members to the defeat of ISIS in Syria, including strong past contributions from Saudi Arabia," National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said in an email. "As we look to future efforts to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, including stabilizing areas liberated from ISIS, we will cooperate closely with allies and partners to share the burden of these efforts." The State Department announced in August it was canceling $230 million in aid earmarked for stabilization and early recovery efforts in northeast Syria. The department said the funds were no longer needed because the administration had secured about $300 million for the same purpose from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other nations, though even that sum would be a fraction of what is needed to rebuild the war-torn nation. For several years, a U.S.-led coalition has backed Arab rebels in Syria and conducted air strikes to beat back ISIS, which previously controlled large swaths of the country and established the center of its would-be caliphate in Raqqa. The terror group had capitalized on the chaos created by nearly eight years of civil war between the rebels and the Syrian government in Damascus, which is backed by Russia and Iran.