US Pullout From Syria Not to Alter Capacity to Perform Military Actions - Pompeo

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The withdrawal of troops from Syria is only a "tactical change" that will not alter US capacity to perform necessary military actions, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo said on Saturday.

"It is our mission. The tools we will use are broad. The fact that a couple thousand uniformed personnel in Syria will be withdrawing is a tactical change. It doesn’t materially alter our capacity to continue to perform the military actions that we need to perform," Pompeo told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

Pompeo arrived in Abu Dhabi on Friday as part of his regional tour aimed at reassuring Washington's Middle Eastern allies of its continued commitment to the complete dismantlement of Daesh* and containing Iran following the pullout of US troops from Syria, according to US officials.

In December, US President Donald Trump declared victory over the Daesh and said he would withdraw some 2,000 US troops currently deployed in the Middle Eastern country. Washington, however, said that it would not disclose a timeline for withdrawing its troops, and pledged that the US-led international coalition's fight against terrorism would continue.

Fox News reported on Friday citing a US defense official that the US-led coalition in Syria had started the process of withdrawing troops from the region.

*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State), a terrorist group banned in Russia