US envoy resigns after Trump's decision on Syria

Brett McGurk, the US envoy for the global coalition to defeat Islamic State (IS), has resigned, according to media reports.

McGurk's resignation has been confirmed and would be effective from December 31, media reports cited a US State Department official as saying, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

Similar to US Defence Secretary James Mattis' resignation on Thursday, McGurk's departure was another sign of senior official's objection over the White House's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it has started returning US troops home from Syria after claiming a victory in the fight against the Islamic State, declining to provide more details on the exit timetable.

Earlier this month, McGurk said that it would be unwise to withdraw US troops from fighting against IS, "even as the end of the physical caliphate is clearly now coming into sight, the end of IS will be a much more long-term initiative".

The US has deployed troops to Syria fighting against the IS since 2015, and there are more than 2,000 US soldiers in Syria currently.

--IANS

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