No US ground force to enforce Syria safe zone: Pentagon

WASHINGTON: The United States is pressing ahead with its withdrawal from northeast  Syria  and no US ground troops will enforce the safe zone called for in the ceasefire agreement reached with Turkey, the Pentagon said Friday.
US forces will remain in contact with Turkey and Syrian Kurdish fighters that were allies of the US in the fight against the Islamic State group, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said.
The safe zone between Turkey and the Kurds in northern  Syria  is supposed to be set up under an agreement announced Thursday by US Vice President Mike Pence under which Turkey agreed to suspend its military incursion in northern  Syria  for five days.
President Donald Trump effectively green-lit the assault by removing a small number of US special forces embedded with Kurdish fighters and serving as a tripwire against Turkish military action in  Syria .  He later ordered the removal of all 1,000 or so US troops in northeast  Syria .  “The United States is continuing our deliberate withdrawal from Northeastern  Syria  as previously announced,” Esper said in a statement.