By Hollie McKay, Fox News
MANBIJ, Syria – The quiet, low-profile U.S. military presence in Syria isn’t quite so low-profile up close.
The American flag flies high from a number of a dozen or so positions the military has established, and can be spotted from afar as convoys rumble along dusty village roads in and around this northern Syrian town, near the Turkish border. And while most of the 2,000 troops the Pentagon has said are here are usually confined to their bases — some of which were occupied by Islamic State militants not long ago — they aren’t unnoticed.
The Americans visit local shops and restaurants, and from time to time local civilians here excitedly spot them making their way about. Small groups of U.S. soldiers have also been spotted in the former Islamic State (ISIS) “caliphate” of Raqqa, alongside Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) being trained by the Americans in everything from media and camera use to weapons training.
There’s no denying the familiarity of the U.S.-SDF partnership: the shared offices, meals, cigarettes, family stories.
And while President Donald Trump spoke Tuesday of a pullout from Syria, he qualified his statement this time with the proviso that the withdrawal will happen when the mission is complete. That has the SDF expecting and hoping the Americans will stay at least long enough to clean out what’s left of ISIS resistance in the region.
A new offensive against ISIS, called Deir-ez-Zor by the SDF, is set to resume in the coming days. Military officials here are viewing it as the end game against the Islamic State.
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