On 19 December, a week after his special coalition envoy to defeat IS said that US troops would be in Syria for the foreseeable future, Donald Trump has ordered a complete, rapid withdrawal of 2,000 military personnel. He tweeted, ‘We have defeated IS in Syria, my only reason for being there.’ Earlier this year he said, ‘I want to get out. I want to bring our troops home and start rebuilding our nation’. He has always said the money spent on the struggle would be better spent at home. Britain has distanced itself from Trump’s perception of the situation, which has also led to the resignation of his defence secretary James Mattis (see). US allies and Kurdish militias feel abandoned, as this decision hands Iran and Russia more leverage across the country. A group of Kurdish and Arab units raised by Washington specifically to fight IS said that the move would have ‘dangerous implications for international stability’. See