ISIS/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump told American troops on Thursday [2-28-19] that U.S.-backed forces in Syria have retaken 100 percent of the territory once held by Islamic State militants, contradicting the commander of the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, who said it would take another week…Earlier on Thursday, the commander of Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Kobani, said in a video released to the news media that the SDF would be able to announce ‘the complete victory over Daesh (Islamic State) in a week.’ Trump made his comments while talking to U.S. troops in Alaska about the progress his administration has made in Afghanistan and the Middle East over the past two years. He stopped in Alaska on his way back from talks in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The U.S. president has been anxious to declare that Islamic State has been driven out of all its territory since announcing in December that he would withdraw American forces from Syria, claiming they had succeeded in their mission to defeat the militant group.”
–Reuters Staff, “Trump says all Islamic State territory retaken, contradicting allied commander,” Reuters, March 1, 2019 11:27 am