US envoy to coalition fighting Islamic State militants resigns in protest of Trump's Syria decision

Brett McGurk, the US envoy for the global coalition against Isis, speaks during a news conference at the US Embassy Baghdad, Iraq in June 2017. Photo / AP

Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, has resigned in protest of US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.

His resignation, confirmed by a State Department official familiar with the matter, comes on the heels of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis's announced departure this week because of differences with the White House over foreign policy, immediately following Trump's decision. Mattis said he would stay on until February to ensure an smooth transition.

McGurk's departure is effective December 31, an earlier exit than his intended departure in mid-February, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. McGurk submitted his resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, the official said.

Earlier this month, McGurk said that the Islamic State was far from defeated despite its loss of territory. "Nobody working on these issues day to day is complacent. Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished," McGurk said at a State Department briefing. "Defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer-term campaign."

McGurk, who was appointed to the job in 2015 by President Barack Obama and retained by Trump, had long maintained that the US mission in Syria should keep a hard focus on countering the Islamic State. Other Trump administration officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton and the US Special Representative for Syria Engagement hoped to expand the scope of the mission to include countering Iranian forces in Syria.

Trump this week ordered the withdrawal of all 2000 or so US troops from Syria and declared the Islamic State defeated. The move blindsided senior officials and ran counter to his own top aides' advice, including that of Mattis.

The United States began airstrikes in 2014 against Islamic State strongholds in Syria, a country already riven by civil war since 2011. US ground troops entered the country in 2015 to provide support to local forces fighting the militant group.