US ends Syria stabilization funds as coalition steps up

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

The U.S. announced Friday it is redirecting $230 million for Syria stabilization efforts elsewhere, citing increased coalition contributions.

The decision has been a long time coming. President Donald Trump froze the U.S.'s stabilization funding in March. He has long called on allies to foot the bill for stabilization efforts in Syria amid his effort to extricate the U.S. from the conflict.

Coalition partners have given $300 million, the State Department announced following Saudi Arabia's $100 million contribution Thursday.

The U.S. maintained that the reallocation of the U.S.'s funds does not signal a retreat from Washington's objectives in Syria.

"The President has made clear that we are prepared to remain in Syria until the enduring defeat of ISIS, and we remain focused on ensuring the withdrawal of Iranian forces and their proxies," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Humanitarian funding will be unaffected after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo authorized the funding reallocation, Nauert said.

"We will continue to provide life-saving, needs-based humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Syrians, support for the White Helmets and the UN’s International Impartial and Independent Mechanism to hold the Assad regime accountable for serious crimes, as well as equipment and other measures to counter the effects of chemical weapons in northwest Syria," she said.

Nauert participated in a call with reporters alongside Trump's anti-Daesh coalition envoy, Brett McGurk, and David Satterfield, the State Department's acting Middle East chief. All three insisted the U.S. would not end its presence in Syria until Daesh was defeated.

McGurk in particular insisted that the shift in funding to close partners would not affect U.S. leadership in the coalition, due in part to the fact that the U.S. has a team on the ground in Syria conducting the efforts, and "a significant portion" of the coalition's contributions "are coming directly into the U.S. account which oversees the overall stabilization in Syria.

"We think the way we've organized this is pretty good," he said. "It maintains U.S. leadership of the coalition, which has been a success, but the emphasis is on burden sharing from other partners, and the other partners have really stepped up."

But Friday's announcement drew a stern rebuke from Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"This is astonishingly shortsighted. Lack of US leadership=Undercutting US interests in Syria and around the world. Once again, Donald Trump is helping Vladimir Putin achieve his dream by propping up the Assad regime," they wrote on Twitter.