Pull-out from Syria changes nothing in US support for Israel: Pompeo

Brasília - President Donald Trump's decision to pull American troops out of Syria "in no way changes anything" in terms of US support and protection of Israel, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday.

Pompeo gave the assurance as he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks in Brasilia on the sidelines of the inauguration of Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro.

"The decision the president made on Syria in no way changes anything that this administration is working on alongside Israel," Pompeo said.

"The counter-ISIS campaign continues, our efforts to counter Iranian aggression continue, and our commitment to Middle East stability and protection of Israel continues in the same way before that decision was made," he said. ISIS is another term for the radical militant Islamic State group (IS).

The fact that the issue was the prime topic of conversation between Pompeo and Netanyahu underlined the uncertainty spawned by Trump's December 19 decision -- announced on Twitter -- to withdraw the approximately 2,000 US troops from northeast Syria, where they had been battling IS remnants.

"We have a lot to discuss. We're going to be discussing our -- the intense cooperation between Israel and the United States, which will also deal with the questions following the decision, the American decision, on Syria," Netanyahu said.

He said the talks would look at "how to intensify even further our intelligence and operational cooperation in Syria and elsewhere to block Iranian aggression in the Middle East."

A US official with Pompeo said the two men "discussed the unacceptable threat that regional aggression and provocation by Iran and its agents poses to Israeli and regional security."

Pompeo "reiterated the United States' commitment to Israel's security and unconditional right to self-defense."

- Allies' concern -

Trump's abrupt decision on Syria stunned regional players, US politicians and military leaders, who expressed surprise that such a major decision would be announced after apparently so little advance consultation, against the advice of his national security advisors.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned following the announcement, which came on the same day that US officials said Trump was also planning a significant drawdown in Afghanistan, with some reports suggesting as many as half of the 14,000 troops could leave.

There are concerns that the US withdrawal could create a vacuum that will be exploited by other militaries active in Syria -- the Syrian army, of course, but also its Iranian allies, or Turkey, which already holds Syrian territory just over its border and which is hostile to the Kurdish groups allied with the American forces.

There is also IS. While badly debilitated after years of combat, the jihadist group is still thousands-strong in northeast Syria and could stage a comeback if military pressure is let up.

After the blowback from startled allies, Trump appeared to backtrack on his initial announcement that "we have defeated ISIS" and a pull-out would be immediate.

In another tweet on Monday he said the withdrawal would now be done "slowly... while at the same time fighting ISIS remnants."

The US-led coalition launched its first raids against IS in September 2014, more than two years before Trump won the US election. US-backed forces seized the jihadists' self-declared capital Raqa on October 17, 2017.

Israel has conducted several airstrikes in Syria, targeting positions held by Iran and its Lebanese proxy force Hezbollah.