Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel on Tuesday after a visit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose team was caught off guard by President Trump’s plan to withdraw from Syria.
Pompeo met with Netanyahu in Brazil, writing in a Twitter post: “the United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself. The U.S.-Israeli alliance is strong.”
Critics of Trump’s decision to leave Syria, which prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, have said it will empower Iranian-allied fighters in the war-torn country at a time when Israel is already worried by the Iran’s growing influence.
Netanyahu has vowed to compensate for the U.S. withdrawal by escalating Israel’s fight against Iranian-backed troops supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The country has mounted attacks against Iranian targets in Syria in recent months.
Trump’s Syria decision “in no way changes anything that this administration is working on alongside Israel,” Pompeo said Tuesday.
“The counter-ISIS campaign continues, our efforts to counter Iranian aggression continue and our commitment to Middle East stability and the protection of Israel continues in the same way it did before that decision was made,” he said.
Trump will allow the military about four months to withdraw the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, backtracking from his previous order, announced on Twitter, that the military leave within 30 days, according to reports by the New York Times and others.
