Saudi prince says US troops 'should stay' in Syria

After Trump speaks of imminent pullout, Mohammed bin Salman warns of Iran establishing arms corridor through war-torn country

Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Friday the US should maintain its military presence in Syria at least in the near future to prevent Iranian expansion in the war-ravaged nation, a day after US President Donald Trump stated that the United States would pull out of Syria “very soon.”

“We believe American troops should stay for at least the mid-term, if not the long-term,” Prince Mohammed told Time Magazine while on a tour of the US.

He said a US pullout would allow Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran to establish an arms route through Syria and Lebanon.

“If you take those troops out from east Syria, you will lose that checkpoint,” he said. “And this corridor could create a lot of things in the region.”

In an address to industrial workers in Ohio Thursday, Trump said US forces were close to securing all of the territory that the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group once claimed.

“We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now,” he promised, to applause.

Donald Trump speaks to a crowd gathered at the Local 18 Richfield Facility of the Operating Engineers Apprentice and Training, a union and apprentice training center specializing in the repair and operation of heavy equipment on March 29, 2018 in Richfield, Ohio. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/AFP)

Trump did not say who the others were who might take care of Syria, but Russia and Iran have sizable forces in the country to support Bashar Assad’s regime.

“Very soon — very soon we’re coming out. We’re going to have 100 percent of the caliphate, as they call it — sometimes referred to as ‘land’ — taking it all back quickly, quickly,” he said.

“But we’re going to be coming out of there real soon. Going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.”

The United States has more than 2,000 military personnel in eastern Syria, working with local militia groups to defeat IS while trying to keep out of Syria’s broader civil war.

“We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing,” Trump declared, promising to focus future US spending on building jobs and infrastructure at home.

The comments about a US withdrawal will likely raise fears in Israel of Iran continuing to extend its foothold in Syria, where Jerusalem worries it is setting up bases for use in attacks against Israel. While the US has said it supports Israel’s efforts to thwart Iranian expansionism on its borders, officials in Jerusalem have quietly expressed fears that the arena is being ceded by Washington to Russia, which is allied with Iran and Assad.

AFP contributed to this report.