As U.S. troops withdraw from northeast Syria in response to Turkey's impending incursion, Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade said on Monday that this potentially could impact America’s future alliances.
“This is allies and future allies saying, would it payoff to ever stay with America when we do this?” Kilmeade said on “Outnumbered.”
Kilmeade said that the Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom the U.S. armed and advised as they defeated ISIS forces, are "unprotected" in the area against Turkish forces.
Meantime, ISIS fighters and other terrorists comprising more than 10,000 Islamic militants jailed in northeast Syria could launch a mass prison break, Syrian Kurdish fighters warned Monday.
The imminent cross-border military operation pitting Turkey against the Syrian Kurds -- a group Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan views as terrorists amid a bloody Kurdish insurgency plaguing his country -- is likely to further destabilize an already volatile area and has already led Kurds there to accuse the U.S. of abandoning them.
TURKEY ANNOUNCES INCURSION OF NORTHEAST SYRIA, US-BACKED KURDS HAVE VOWED 'ALL-OUT' WAR
“We’re going to be right back there,” Kilmeade said, noting that U.S. commanders were reportedly surprised by Trump's decision.
"They never thought something so ill-advised would be done by a president who has so much respect among military men and women."
U.S. troops have fought alongside the Syrian Kurdish fighters for years in the successful effort to topple ISIS' so-called caliphate that put the terror group in control of huge swaths of Syria and Iraq. But now, the 1,000 or so American troops left in the northern part of the country will begin pulling back as Turkish forces push ahead.
Aside from the existential threat to the Kurdish fighters posed by Turkey, Syrian Kurdish forces are also warning that ISIS sleeper cells are actively plotting to free about 12,000 militants currently detained by the Kurds and may take advantage of the Turkey-triggered turmoil to aid their plans.
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The U.S., which has helped the Syrian Kurds keep watch over the prisoners, said in a statement late Sunday that Turkey will now take custody of the thousands of militants.
Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.