Trump freeze on Syria aid latest sign of America first agenda

Show Caption Hide Caption Children increasingly exposed in Syria conflict Children increasingly exposed in Syria conflict: UNICEF Video provided by AFP

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump is moving to put Syria in his rear view mirror.

Trump told a group of union workers in Ohio Thursday that he wants to pull U.S. troops out of Syria "very soon." Then on Friday, he directed the State Department to freeze some $200 million in recovery aid for the country, which is in the seventh year of a brutal civil war, according to the The Wall Street Journal.

Both moves follow Trump's decision in July to end a covert CIA program under President Barack Obama to train moderate rebels to fight Syrian President Bashar Assad, marking an end of U.S. efforts to remove the Syrian dictator.

At the time, he tweeted that the payments to Syrian rebels are "massive, dangerous, and wasteful."

The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017

Friday's decision to hold off on making the $200 million payment for recovery is the latest indication the president, who campaigned on an "America first" agenda, is reassessing the U.S. military and foreign aid role in the Middle East and elsewhere.

"We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now," Trump told workers in Richfield, Ohio, Thursday. "We're going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be."

There are an estimated 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in Syria.

An American and a British servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb attack in Syria, U.S. and British officials said Friday. It was the second U.S. combat death in Syria. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Scott C. Dayton, was killed by an improved explosive device in November 2016.

The aid package being suspended was a priority of now-fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who had emphasized the importance of a strong American presence in Syria as a way to stabilize the region and combat Islamic State-backed terrorists from regaining strength.

"Additionally, a total withdrawal of American personnel at this time would restore Assad and continue his brutal treatment against his own people," Tillerson said during a speech at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University in January. "A stable, unified, and independent Syria ultimately requires post-Assad leadership in order to be successful."

Read More: Death toll in Damascus market attack rises to 44 in one of the deadliest attacks in the Syrian capital in 7-year war

Read More: Syria's civil war has been raging for 7 years and no end in sight

A U.S. exit from Syria would be seen as a victory not just for Assad but for his allies Russia and Iran.

"If the U.S. were to withdraw, it seems to me the Russians would have a free hand" in Syria and the forces "fighting Assad would be weakened," Ingela Stent, director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Georgetown University, told CNN on Friday.

Tillerson echoed similar concerns about Iran in his January speech. "U.S. disengagement from Syria would provide Iran the opportunity to further strengthen its position in Syria," he said. "Iran seeks dominance in the Middle East and the destruction of our ally, Israel. As a destabilized nation and one bordering Israel, Syria presents an opportunity that Iran is all too eager to exploit."