The United States has started bringing home troops from Syria as it moves to a new phase in the campaign against Daesh, the White House said on Wednesday, claiming that the terrorist group's "territorial caliphate" has been defeated.
"These victories over Daesh in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. officials said the United States was considering a total withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria as it winds up its campaign to retake all of the territory once held by Daesh.
President Donald Trump declared victory against the militant group in Syria on Wednesday and hinted that a withdrawal could be imminent. "We have defeated Daesh in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency," he said in a tweet.
Sanders echoed Trump's declaration of victory over Daesh. "Five years ago, Daesh was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate," she said.
The Trump administration will withdraw all of the approximately 2,000 American troops in Syria, according to a U.S. official, as the White House declared victory Wednesday in the mission to defeat Daesh militants there.
All U.S. State Department personnel are being evacuated from Syria within 24 hours, a U.S. official told Reuters, after the White House said it had started withdrawing U.S. forces.
The official said the U.S. plans to pull military forces out of the country once the final stages of the last operation against Daesh is complete, and that the time-frame for the troop pullout is expected to be between 60 to 100 days.
The decision came after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday. "Everything that has followed is implementing the agreement that was made in that call," the official said.
Trump has said since he was a presidential candidate that he wanted to bring back troops from the Middle East. But officials have said in recent weeks that pockets of Daesh militants remain. U.S. policy has been that American forces would stay in place until the extremists were eradicated.
In addition, Pentagon and other officials have said that U.S. troops were countering Iran-backed militants in Syria, which was an expansion of the U.S. mission.
Trump said on Twitter: "We have defeated Daesh in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency."
His tweet followed a series of news reports that the U.S. was preparing to withdraw its troops from Syria. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Reports of an abrupt withdrawal drew quick criticism from Congress. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said a full and rapid removal of troops would be a "grave error with broader implications" beyond the fight against Daesh.
Responding to the reports, Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said in a statement that "at this time, we continue to work by, with and through our partners in the region."
The Pentagon recently said that Daesh now controls just 1 percent of the territory they originally held.
