Article snippet: MORE has ordered U.S. military forces to retreat from northeast Syria, paving the way for Turkey to proceed with a long-planned offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces that were instrumental in the fight against ISIS. The administration downplayed the significance of the withdrawal, but it was immediately blasted by lawmakers across the political spectrum, including several Republicans who are typically aligned with Trump. Amid the pushback, U.S. officials insisted that Trump was not endorsing the Turkish operation. But critics argue Trump is abandoning a U.S. ally to be slaughtered by Turkey — all while fueling chaos in the region that could allow ISIS to thrive anew. There’s also a question of what will happen to the thousands of ISIS detainees being held by the Kurds as they shift their resources to battling Turkey. Here are five things to know about Trump’s decision. Trump is fulfilling a campaign promise while giving Turkey what it wants In seeking to fulfill a campaign promise to end so-called forever wars, Trump gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan something he’s long wanted. Ankara views the Kurdish forces known as the YPG as an extension of a Turkish Kurdish insurgency and has long threatened to launch an assault against them. It has not done so previously because of the presence of U.S. troops in the area. The YPG has led the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have worked closely with the U.S. Trump spoke to Erdoğan on Sunday before making his... Link to the full article to read more