WASHINGTON: Brett
McGurk, the US special envoy to the anti-Islamic State group coalition, has
resigned, a State Department official said Saturday, capping a chaotic week
that saw the departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Donald Trump's
stunning decision to pull troops from Syria. McGurk's resignation, effective
December 31, comes on the heels of Mattis's decision to quit the Trump
administration over key disagreements with the US president, notably the Syria
withdrawal. Just last week McGurk, a Barack Obama appointee whom Trump kept on,
said "nobody is declaring a mission accomplished" in the battle
against IS-just days before the president blindsided politicians and allies with
his announcement of victory against the jihadist movement.

Trump on Saturday
said that the jihadist group "is largely defeated." "When I
became President, ISIS was going wild," the president tweeted. "Now
ISIS is largely defeated and other local countries, including Turkey, should be
able to easily take care of whatever remains. We're coming home!" Trump
later took aim at McGurk on Twitter, referring to him as a
"grandstander" who was quitting just before his time was up. McGurk,
45, was set to leave his position in February, but reportedly felt he could no
longer continue in the job after Trump's declaration and on Friday evening
informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of his intention to wrap up at year's
end.

His conclusion
mirrored that of Mattis, who was seen as a voice of moderation in the mercurial
Trump White House and quit after telling the president he could not go along
with the Syria decision. McGurk has served as the US envoy to the Global
Coalition to Defeat ISIS, an acronym for the jihadist group, since 2015. He
also served as the deputy assistant secretary of state for Iraq and Iran, and
worked under Republican George W Bush as a senior official on Iraq and
Afghanistan. Discussing the US role in Syria this month, he had told
journalists that "it would be reckless if we were just to say, 'Well, the
physical caliphate is defeated, so we can just leave now.'" "I think
anyone who's looked at a conflict like this would agree with that."

'Complete
reversal of policy'

McGurk called
Trump's move to leave Syria "a shock" and "a complete reversal
of policy that was articulated to us," in an email announcing his decision
to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times. "It left our
coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered," he
said, according to the newspaper.

"I worked
this week to help manage some of the fallout but-as many of you heard in my
meetings and phone calls-I ultimately concluded that I could not carry out
these new instructions and maintain my integrity." Just after announcing
his Syria decision, Trump again confounded international partners with plans to
slash troop numbers in Afghanistan. The momentous reversal of years of US
foreign policy will leave the war-torn regions at risk of continued and
potentially heightened bloodshed. In typical fashion, Trump said Saturday that
the media was treating him unfairly over the Syria withdrawal decision.

"If anybody
but your favorite President, Donald J. Trump, announced that, after decimating
ISIS in Syria, we were going to bring our troops back home (happy &
healthy), that person would be the most popular hero in America," he
tweeted. "With me, hit hard instead by the Fake News Media. Crazy!"
The troop pullout will leave thousands of Kurdish fighters-which the Pentagon
spent years training and arming against IS-vulnerable to Turkish attack. On
Saturday, a senior Kurdish official called on the United States to prevent a
potential Turkish offensive against areas in northern Syria inhabited by Kurds,
calling it America's "duty to prevent any attack and to put an end to
Turkish threats."

The US has for
years supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight
against IS in Syria. Aldar Khalil, a key player in establishing Syria's
semi-autonomous Kurdish region in 2013, said the US and its partners "must
honor their commitments." Heavyweight adviser Mattis-a decorated Marine
general who was often referred to as "the last adult in the
room"-made clear in his resignation letter that pulling out of Syria crossed
the line. The departures of Mattis and now McGurk follow those of national
security advisor HR McMaster and White House chief of staff John Kelly-leaving
Trump, who has no political, diplomatic or military experience, increasingly
alone.

Israeli concerns

Meanwhile,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought yesterday to calm domestic
concerns over US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria,
saying his country will still act against Iran there. Netanyahu will also
reportedly meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he travels to Brazil for
the January 1 inauguration of new president Jair Bolsonaro. The prime
minister's office has not confirmed the meeting reported by Israeli media.
Trump last week said the Islamic State group had been defeated and he was
withdrawing the United States' 2,000 troops from Syria. Israel has seen the US
presence in neighboring Syria as a bulwark against its main enemy Iran and a
counterweight to Russia.

Both Russia and
Iran support Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's regime in the country's civil
war. "The decision to remove the 2,000 US soldiers from Syria won't change
our consistent policy," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
"We will continue to act against Iran's attempt to establish a military
presence in Syria, and if the need arises, we will even expand our activities
there." He added that he wanted to "calm those concerned".
"Our cooperation with the United States continues full-force, and takes place
in many fields-the operational field, the intelligence field, and many other
security fields."

Separately,
Israel's military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot told a conference yesterday that
the US decision was "a significant event but it should not be
overstated". "For decades we've been handling this front alone,"
Eisenkot said. Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria-as well as reduce forces
in Afghanistan-led US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to quit in disagreement. -
Agencies