Macron criticizes Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria

French President Emmanuel Macron criticized, Sunday, his US counterpart Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw his forces from Syria, stressing that “the ally must be trust worthy”.

In a sign of the growing diplomatic rift between the two leaders, Macron said he “deeply regretted” Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria.

Last week, Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops deployed in Syria, stressing that the organization of the Islamic state had been defeated and the withdrawal of nearly half of the US troops deployed in Afghanistan.

Analysts say a major coup in US foreign policy will lead to more bloodshed in war-torn areas.

For its part, France announced that it is continuing to participate in the coalition operations against the organization of the Islamic state in Syria.

“Being an ally means fighting shoulder to shoulder”, he told a news conference with his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby in N’Djamena.

“This is what France did in fighting alongside Chad against jihadist groups.

The withdrawal of US troops from Syria would make thousands of Kurdish fighters in the north of the country, which spent years training and arming them in order to counter the Islamic state’s organization, have been “vulnerable” to a Turkish attack.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch an imminent military operation against Kurdish fighters who fought the organization in northern Syria, asserting his intention to “get rid” of them if the Americans are not forced to withdraw.

But in the light of the United States decision and a telephone conversation with its president Donald Trump on December 14, Erdogan decided to postpone, for now, a military operation intended to be implemented in northern Syria against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, Washington supports elements of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in the face of the Islamic state, but Ankara considers them a “terrorist” organization linked to the PKK.

On Saturday, a senior Kurdish official called on the United States to prevent a possible Turkish attack, saying it was the duty of the United States to “prevent any attack and put an end to Turkish threats”.

Macron praised Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned after US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw all US troops from Syria.

“I want to pay tribute to General Mattis”, Macron said.

“We have seen for a year how reliable he is”.

The 68-year-old Mattis is one of the first ministers Trump has chosen and has served as defense secretary for about two years.

In his letter of resignation to Trump who is seeking to draw closer to Russia and the critic of its allies, both inside and outside the NATO alliance, Mattis wrote, “My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear about malignant actors and strategic competitors were founded on information spanning more than four decades of working closely on these issues”.

“Because you have the right to appoint a defense minister whose views are more in line with your views … I think my withdrawal is the right thing”, he wrote.

After Mattis resigned, the US envoy to the international coalition against the Islamic state organization, Brett Mcgurk, submitted his resignation on the backdrop of the decision to withdraw from Syria.

Since Trump’s arrival in the presidency, Macron has sought to create a “privileged relationship” with him despite the great differences between the two leaders in political views and in the way of governance.

In the first period of their presidency, the two leaders seemed to have a friendly relationship, but differences of views on political issues, especially the Paris climate agreement, which Trump opposed, have made it harder to bridge the gap and tensions are becoming more and more public.

During the first encounter between Macron and Trump in Brussels in May 2017, a handshake was held between the two men, who were highlighted by the media to embody the political “rams” between the two men.

After the US president pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, Macron played the chord of Trump’s presidential campaign: “Let’s make America great again”, saying, “Let’s make our planet great again”.

In July 2017, when the US president went to France to attend the French National Day celebrations, Trump praised his French counterpart and said that “France is the oldest and the first ally of the United States”.

Trump, however, raised a lot of surprise when he tried to compliment Macron’s wife by saying she was “in good shape”.

In April, Macron visited Washington and removed some of the dandruff from Macron’s jacket on public television during the French president’s official visit to the US capital.

“We have to make it full.

It’s perfect”.

Later, despite repeated calls by Trump not to abandon the nuclear deal between the major powers and Iran, Trump decided to withdraw from the agreement and re-impose sanctions on Iran.

In November Trump ridiculed the French president’s unpopularity and criticized his proposal to create a European army.

Macron didn’t hide his disappointment at the tense relations with the United States, saying “the ally must be confident and coordinate with its other allies”.