US Ends Syria Stabilization Fundings cites more allied cash

WASHINGTON —
The Trump administration is ending funding for Syria stabilization projects as it moves to extricate the U.S. from the conflict, citing increased contributions from anti-Islamic State coalition partners.

The State Department said it had notified Congress on Friday that it would not spend some $230 million that had been planned for Syria programs and would instead shift that money to other areas. Most of that money, initially pledged by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in February, had been on hold and under review since he was fired in March. A small fraction of that amount was released in June.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the cut, which was authorized by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and does not include humanitarian aid funds, will be more than offset by an additional $300 million pledged by coalition partners, including $100 million that Saudi Arabia announced it had contributed late Thursday.

“As a result of key partner contributions by coalition members, Secretary Pompeo has authorized the Department of State to redirect approximately $230 million in stabilization funds for Syria which have been under review,” she said in a statement.

Nauert said Pompeo’s decision took into account the White House’s desire to increase burden sharing with allies.

The funds will be redirected “to support other key foreign policy priorities,” said Nauert, who along with other officials rejected suggestions that the elimination of the funds showed diminishing U.S. interest in Syria.

Nauert, along with David Satterfield, the acting assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, and Brett McGurk, the special envoy for the anti-IS coalition, told reporters on a conference call that the U.S. would remain active in Syria until the Islamic State has been defeated.

“This decision does not represent any lessening of U.S. commitment to our strategic goals in Syria,” Nauert said.

Still, the move was seen as a sign the administration is heeding Trump’s demand to end U.S. involvement in Syria and reduce its commitment there.

“This is astonishingly shortsighted,” Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee tweeted. They called it a “lack of US leadership” and said it was “undercutting US interests in Syria and around the world.”