DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad says the American presence in Syria will lead to armed “resistance” that will eventually force the U.S. troops to leave.
Assad spoke in an interview with Russia24 TV and Rossiya Segodnya news agency that was broadcast on Friday.
He says the Americans should remember the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that “Syria will not be an exception.”
He didn’t elaborate.
U.S. officials said this week that Washington will leave about 600 troops in Syria to fight the Islamic State group.
Trump’s decision last month to withdraw the bulk of roughly 1,000 American troops from Syria drew bipartisan condemnation.
It came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Trump earlier he intended to carry out an operation to clear the Turkey-Syria border of Syrian Kurdish fighters.