Last week, Donald Trump unilaterally called for the 1000 American forces in Syria to stand down at the behest of Turkey. Most experts speculated this would cause two things to happen. First, Turkey would attack the Kurds — people who have been our staunch allies and brothers in arms for over a decade. Second, ISIS would rise up in Syria.

Now, it is clear, just a week later, that both prognostications were totally spot-on accurate.

Of course, Turkey almost immediately attacked and the Kurdish leader has been quoted as telling the US that as a result of Trump’s unilateral decision that “you are leaving us to be slaughtered.” By most every account, that is exactly is what is happening. It is not a stretch to say that this blood on Trump’s hands.

Now, we are learning there have been several examples of ISIS coming back as well.

  • ISIS fighters have broken out of prison in Syria and are now at large to spread terror.
  • Meanwhile, women affiliated with Isis attacked security offices with sticks and stones during unrest at a camp in the region where Turkey has launched attacks.
  • ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Qwamishli that killed three people.

And now, just breaking, there are reports of hundreds of ISIS family members have broken out of a camp in Northern Syria as reported by NBC below:

Turkey’s invasion that Trump, in effect, allowed — has caused over 130,000 people to be displaced from rural areas around the northeast Syrian border towns of Tel Abyad and Ras al Ain due to the conflict, according to the United Nations.

All now fertile ground for ISIS and their doctrine to spread like a virus.

Trump is still defending the decision as getting America out of “endless wars.” The problem with that is that Syria was actually the most docile of the conflicted regions in the Middle East. Our presence served as a buffer and greatly reduced the violence. This was one place the people who lived there (The Kurds) actually wanted us there.

Also, it is painfully obvious to many that doing this strengthen’s Assad’s hand in Syria, which strengthens the Russians and Iranians positions there.

Now, we are leaving them there to be slaughtered and ISIS to rise up.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis offered some words of experience and wisdom to Trump — saying:

“We may want a war over; we may even declare it over. You can pull your troops out as President Obama learned the hard way out of Iraq, but the ‘enemy gets the vote,’ we say in the military. And in this case, if we don’t keep the pressure on, then ISIS will resurge. It’s absolutely a given that they will come back,”

For more, you can check out the full interview with Mattis on Meet The Press below:

Unfortunately for the US, Trump’s decisions might have irreversible consequences for us in the region and the world.

Charles Lister, director of the Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute with years of experience negotiating with Syrian opposition groups, said on Twitter:

“For U.S foreign policy, Donald Trump has been the worst negotiator out there. He cedes tactical & strategic leverage at critical negotiation points, thereby crippling the value of his broader investments.”