ISIS/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The United States has defeated the Islamic State in Syria, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday [12-19-18], adding that it was the only reason he had kept troops in the country. ‘We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,’ Trump wrote on Twitter. Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters that they were considering a total withdrawal of U.S. forces from the Middle Eastern country.”
–Susan Heavey, “Trump Claims U.S. Has Defeated ISIS in Syria,” The New York Times online, December 19, 2018