New York Times: “As Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, closes in on victory over an eight-year revolt, a secret, industrial-scale system of arbitrary arrests and torture prisons has been pivotal to his success. While the Syrian military, backed by Russia and Iran, fought armed rebels for territory, the government waged a ruthless war on civilians, throwing hundreds of thousands into filthy dungeons where thousands were tortured and killed.”

“Nearly 128,000 have never emerged, and are presumed to be either dead or still in custody, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, an independent monitoring group that keeps the most rigorous tally. Nearly 14,000 were ‘killed under torture.’ Many prisoners die from conditions so dire that a United Nations investigation labeled the process ‘extermination.'”

The U.S. commander who has been leading the war against ISIS told CNN that he disagreed with Donald Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria and warned that the terror group was far from defeated, in a stark public break with the President.

Said Gen. Joseph Votel: “It would not have been my military advice at that particular time… I would not have made that suggestion, frankly.”

Votel said that he “was not consulted” before Trump’s controversial announcement late last year that the U.S. would rapidly withdraw its troops from the war-torn country.

Brett McGurk, who recently resigned as special envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, writes in the Washington Post that President Trump’s decision to pull troops from Syria “was made without deliberation, consultation with allies or Congress, assessment of risk, or appreciation of facts.”

“The irony is that defeating the Islamic State is what the president said from the beginning was his goal. In 2016, he vowed to ‘knock the hell out of ISIS.’ His recent choices, unfortunately, are already giving the Islamic State — and other American adversaries — new life.”

“The Islamic State asserted responsibility Wednesday for a suicide blast in the U.S.-patrolled city of Manbij in Syria, the first such attack since President Trump said American forces would withdraw from the country because the militant group has been largely defeated,” the Washington Post reports.

“In a message posted to Twitter, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State said that U.S. service members were killed while conducting a routine patrol in the city but did not say how many died or provide further details.”

“The United States has started withdrawing its troops from Syria, an American military spokesman said on Friday, further muddling the Trump administration’s plans for disengagement from one of the Middle East’s most complex battlefields,” the New York Times reports.

“As recently as Sunday, President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, had said that the pullout was conditional on circumstances that could leave American forces there for months or even years. That followed by less than a month President Trump’s announcement that he intended to pull out the roughly 2,000 American troops within 30 days.”

President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said that “the U.S. military withdrawal from northeastern Syria is conditioned on defeating the remnants of the Islamic State group, and on Turkey assuring the safety of Kurdish fighters allied with the United States,” the AP reports.

“Bolton’s comments mark the first public confirmation that the drawdown has been slowed, as Trump faced widespread criticism from allies and the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis for a policy that was to have been conducted within weeks.”

“Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group, has resigned in protest to President Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, joining Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in an administration exodus of experienced national security officials,” the AP reports.

“Only 11 days ago, McGurk had said it would be ‘reckless’ to consider IS defeated and therefore would be unwise to bring American forces home. He decided to speed up his plan to leave in mid-February.”

Washington Post: “A number of close U.S. allies who are members of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State said they were not consulted and were given no prior warning.”

“One European defense secretary put in a call Tuesday to Jim Mattis after hearing rumors of the decision and received a late-night call back from the defense secretary with confirmation. Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not participate in the meeting with Trump and was in the dark until after it took place.”

GOP senators leveled “blistering criticism” at Vice President Mike Pence for President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria, “with multiple Republican senators expressing outrage and frustration,” Politico reports.

“Pence was dispatched to the Hill as the administration began absorbing a torrent of condemnation from hawkish Republicans, who blasted the White House announcement that the U.S. and its allies have defeated the Islamic State in Syria and that some of the 2,000 U.S. troops battling the terrorist group will begin coming home.”

“Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Pence he was ‘personally offended’ to read about the decision in the news rather than hearing from the president or his aides.”

A defense official told the Washington Post that the Trump administration plans to pull U.S. troops from Syria immediately.

“The decision would remove the entire force of more than 2,000 U.S. service members and end the extended ground mission against the Islamic State.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he “convinced” President Trump to stay in Syria before the United States, United Kingdom and France launched strikes against targets at three sites Friday night, CNN reports.

Said Macron: “Ten days ago, President Trump said the USA’s will is to disengage from Syria. We convinced him that it was necessary to stay.”

“Defense Department officials said on Saturday that American-led strikes against Syria had taken out the ‘heart’ of President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons program, but acknowledged that the Syrian government most likely retained some ability to again attack its own people with chemical agents,” the New York Times reports.

“Warplanes and ships from the United States, Britain and France launched more than 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs, the officials told reporters, in an operation that President Trump and Pentagon leaders hailed as a success.”

President Trump tweeted: “Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”