President Donald Trump has raised the idea of pulling out of Syria during a private meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan earlier this week at the White House, CNN reported Thursday.
Citing two unnamed diplomatic sources, CNN reported Trump told the king he thinks he can strike a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on an "exclusion zone" in southwest Syria that would allow the United States to "get out ASAP."
According to CNN, Trump's plan would let the Russians help Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad take back an area along the Jordanian border where the U.S.-led coalition and its military partners have recently run into opposition from "an unidentified hostile force" despite a previous ceasefire.
In exchange, Trump is looking to the Russians for assurances the Syrian regime will not massacre the U.S.-backed rebels in the region, allowing them to cease hostilities and get out of the area, CNN reported.
He had also expect the Russians to establish an exclusion zone to prevent fighting in southwest Syria and block Iranian-backed forces from the region, the sources told CNN.
Questions left unanswered include how to address the refugee situation and allowing Assad to stay in power, the sources told CNN.
The exit of the United States from Syria would also likely raise concerns among allies in the region — particularly the rebel Syrian Democratic Forces — and could embolden the forces of the Syrian regime, Iran, and Turkey, CNN reported.
Trump is expected to meet Putin in Helsinki, Finland, next month, but there have been few specifics about what they men will discuss.
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