The Trump administration is withdrawing US funding for stabilization projects in Syria, with officials from the State Department saying the cash is coming from coalition partners.
The State Department said it notified Congress on Friday of the $230 million (€200.9 million) spending cut, originally pledged by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February for Syria programs. Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said the cut was authorized by current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and does not include humanitarian aid funds.
“This allows us to free up our tax dollars to use on other key foreign policy priorities,” Nauert said.
US President Donald Trump had put a freeze on most of the money after Tillerson’s firing in March , threatening to withdraw US forces from Syria. However, the State Department rejected suggestions that the funding cut showed diminished US interest in Syria.
“This decision does not represent any lessening of US commitment to our strategic goals in Syria,” Nauert said, adding that the country remained firmly committed to the fight against the “Islamic State” (IS).
“The president has made clear that we are prepared to remain in Syria until the enduring defeat of [IS], and we remain focused on ensuring the withdrawal of Iranian forces and their proxies,” Nauert said.
The funding cut is the Trump administration’s latest financial retreat from Syria. His administration ended funding for stabilization in Syria’s northwest in May after elimination most of the IS militants in the region.
The US freed up a small portion of Tillerson’s pledge — $6.6 million — in June to continue funding the White Helmets, a Syrian civil defense organization, and the International, Impartial and Independence Mechanism, a United Nations agency that is investigating war crimes committed during Syria’s seven-year conflict. But that left hundreds of millions of dollars in limbo that would have been returned to the Treasury Department at the end of September.
The State Department insisted that the cut will be more than offset by the $300 million pledged by anti-IS coalition partners.
The pledges included $100 million from Saudi Arabia and $50 million from the United Arab Emirates. Australia, Taiwan, Kuwait, Germany, France, Denmark and the European Union also participated, according to Brett McGurk, the special envoy for the anti-IS coalition.
McGurk said the withdrawal of US funds “maintains US leadership of the coalition, which has been a success, but puts the emphasis on burden sharing of coalition partners.”
IS has lost about 98 percent of the territory it held in Iraq and Syria, McGurk added, saying that preparations for the final phase of the campaign are being made.
“We still have not launched the final phase to defeat the physical caliphate. That is actually being prepared now and will come at a time of our choosing, but it’s coming,” McGurk said.
He said stabilization operations involving basic needs, including the restoration of water and power supplies, are well underway in recaptured areas. For instance, potable water supplies have been restored to all 26 districts of Raqqa, a city in northern Syria which was devastated in the effort to eradicate IS militants.
“We are focused on stabilization, getting people back into their homes,” McGurk said.