Washington has cut funding pledged for stabilization projects in Syria. The Trump administration said increased contributions from coalition partners made the US payment unnecessary.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/S. George
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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."
Who's fighting in the Syria conflict?
Syria's civil war erupted out of the Arab Spring protests that swept much of the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. The conflict has since drawn in multiple warring factions from around the world.
Image: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
War with no end
Syria has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since 2011 after Syrian President Bashar Assad lost control over large parts of the country to multiple revolutionary groups. The conflict has since drawn in foreign powers and brought misery and death to Syrians.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/A. Al-Bushy
The dictator
Syria's army, officially known as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), is loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is fighting to restore the president's rule over the entire country. The SAA has been fighting alongside a number of pro-Assad militias such as the National Defense Force and has cooperated with military advisors from Russia and Iran, which back Assad.
Turkey, which is also part of the US-led coalition against IS, has actively supported rebels opposed to Assad. It has a tense relationship with its American allies over US cooperation with Kurdish fighters, who Ankara says are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting in Turkey. Turkey has launched multiple military offensives targeting Kurdish militias.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. Pitarakis
The eastern guardian
The Kremlin has proven to be a powerful friend to Assad. Russian air power and ground troops officially joined the fight in September 2015 after years of supplying the Syrian army. Moscow has come under fire from the international community for the high number of civilian casualties during its airstrikes. However, Russia's intervention turned the tide in war in favor of Assad.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass/M. Metzel
The western allies
A US-led coalition of more than 50 countries, including Germany, began targeting IS and other terrorist targets with airstrikes in late 2014. The anti-IS coalition has dealt major setbacks to the militant group. The US has more than a thousand special forces in the country backing the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A.Brandon
The rebels
The Free Syrian Army grew out of protests against the Assad regime that eventually turned violent. Along with other non-jihadist rebel groups, it seeks the ouster of President Assad and democratic elections. After suffering a number of defeats, many of its members defected to hardline militant groups. It garnered some support from the US and Turkey, but its strength has been greatly diminished.
Image: Reuters
The resistance
Fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamists has become its own conflict. The US-led coalition against the "Islamic State" has backed the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias. The Kurdish YPG militia is the main component of the SDF. The Kurds have had a tacit understanding with Assad.
Image: Getty Images/A. Sik
The new jihadists
"Islamic State" (IS) took advantage of regional chaos to capture vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Seeking to establish its own "caliphate," IS has become infamous for its fundamentalist brand of Islam and its mass atrocities. IS is on the brink of defeat after the US and Russia led separate military campaigns against the militant group.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
The old jihadists
IS is not the only terrorist group that has ravaged Syria. A number of jihadist militant groups are fighting in the conflict, warring against various rebel factions and the Assad regime. One of the main jihadist factions is Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which controls most of Idlib province and has ties with al-Qaeda.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/Nusra Front on Twitter
The Persian shadow
Iran has supported Syria, its only Arab ally, for decades. Eager to maintain its ally, Tehran has provided Damascus with strategic assistance, military training and ground troops when the conflict emerged in 2011. The Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah also supports the Assad regime, fighting alongside Iranian forces and paramilitary groups in the country.
Image: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
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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.
Raqqa's mass graves — digging in the dirt
Human Rights Watch says there are at least nine mass graves in the Syrian city of Raqqa. It's thought that thousands of people were killed there during the battle to retake the city back in 2017. Filip Warwick reports.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Struggling to cope
Local authorities affiliated with the Raqqa Civil Council are struggling to cope with the logistical challenges of recovering bodies and providing information to families looking for their missing or dead relatives. What used to be the grounds of the city's zoo is now in fact one of several sites of mass graves in Raqqa.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Shallow graves
Mohammed Assad, the on-site autopsy doctor, said that due to the intense fighting victims' families and "Islamic State" (IS) fighters buried people in the quickest and simplest way possible, digging shallow graves and wrapping bodies in blankets.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Raising the dead
The digging stops and a dusty blanket is pulled out from the ground. Three corpses are wrapped together inside. "In this grave we have three children wrapped together; the first one is about 2-months old, the second is 2-years old, and the third is 3-years old," Dr. Assad told DW.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Basic identification
The local team members are volunteers who do not have forensic expertise. The on-site identification procedure of bodies includes the exhumation date, identification number, gender and general state of the body.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Laid to rest
Dr. Assad said the people here died of conflict-related injuries; those crushed by rubble, killed by shrapnel, IS sniper fire or coalition airstrikes. But he also remembers one unusual case. "There was what appeared to be an execution, where the head was placed separately from the body."
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Searching for relatives
Mohammed Saleh, a Raqqa local, has come to search for the body of his dead brother. He leads Dr. Assad's team to where his brother’s body is supposedly buried. The team digs and finds a blanket. Mohammed points out to a recovered body; he believes it’s his brother.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Looking for a sign
Mohammed Saleh asks for a razor to cut the trousers from the recovered body. He says his brother had a metal plate in the fibula. The team examines the leg but no metal plate is found.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Solitary thoughts
Mohammed Saleh shares his thoughts before walking away to have some time for himself. "Without Daesh's [the Arabic name for IS — the ed.] presence in this place the international coalition airstrikes would have not taken place. Fate led to my brother's death," he told DW.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Little outside support
Dr. Assad says the group has received little or no support from international non-governmental organizations. With Raqqa currently under US-led coalition control, NGOs are keeping a low profile to avoid stoking tensions between the Syrian government and Turkey.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Taking a break
Dr. Assad's team takes a tea break. One of the team's members, Ibrahim Assad, has been digging for the past three months. He says he’s come here to help to bring some humanity to these bodies and to give the families the opportunity to provide their loved ones with a proper burial.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
Just one of many
According Dr. Assad's estimates there are about 150 bodies here. There were instances where three to four blankets were found in a trench on top of each other. At a second site, a football pitch, the team expects to find some further 200 bodies, while a third site is estimated to have around 500.
Image: DW/F. Warwick
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No reconstruction without talks
However, David Satterfield, the acting assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, said the US and other countries would not contribute to Syria's full reconstruction until there was a "credible and irreversible" political process to end the conflict.
"There is not going to be, by international agreement, reconstruction assistance to Syria unless the UN — not Moscow, not Washington, not any other capital — certifies that a credible and irreversible political process is underway," Satterfield said.
Russia and Syria both want international funding to rebuild Syria, Satterfield added. But he questioned whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is "stonewalling" the UN peace effort.
Damascus and Moscow have resisted the UN-backed Geneva plan, the result of peace negotiations between Syrian rebels and government forces in 2017, because it has threatened to force Assad from power.
Russia got involved in the Syrian conflict on Assad's behalf in 2015, turning the momentum to the president's forces. Assad also enjoys robust support from Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Washington had long insisted that the Syrian president leave power, but the Trump administration has accepted that Assad could remain until the end of his current seven-year term.
