Article snippet: “I want to get out of the endless wars, too. The problem is, the other side, even if we wanted to surrender, will not take our surrender. They hate us because of who we are, the way we live our lives, the way we worship our God,” Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, said during a conference held by the Washington Examiner. “What was working in Syria was that for very little investment, the Kurds were doing all the fighting, the vast majority of the dying, and we were providing intelligence and fire support assistance. And we were winning,” he added. Kelly then called the pullout a”catastrophically bad idea” and expressed worry that the move will hurt the U.S.’s influence in the Middle East. He stated: Kelly’s remarks come after President Trump on Wednesday announced a “major breakthrough” in Syria, where a Turkish military offensive had been targeting Kurdish forces — and said the U.S. has lifted sanctions on the regime in Ankara. Trump told reporters at a news conference he received assurances the cease-fire, set for five days initially, will be permanent. There also will be a 20-mile safe zone along Syria’s border with Turkey, the president added. The move to lift sanctions came exactly two weeks after Turkish forces began the offensive in northeast Syria, which targeted Kurdish fighters with the goal of clearing out a “safe zone” to repatriate thousands of Syrians who have fled across the border into Turkey. The president said some U.S. troops will remain to... Link to the full article to read more