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→Turkish incursion: added info
Prior to the Turkish incursion, called Operation Peace Spring, Mulroy stated that if they did invade northeast Syria, the Kurdish element of the SDF will defend their people and Syrian's will endure even more suffering.<ref name="auto8" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/10/turkey-incursion-northern-syria-islamic-state-us-officials.html |title=Turkish incursion threatens to unleash Islamic State in Syria, US officials warn |last=Detsch |first=Jack |date=October 7, 2019 |website=Al-Monitor}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Finnegan|first1=Conor|last2=Martinez|first2=Luis|last3=Raddatz|first3=Martha|date=October 7, 2019|title='They abandoned us': Commanding general of US-allied Kurdish forces in Syria|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abandoned-us-commanding-general-syrian-democratic-forces/story?id=66117726|website=ABC News}}</ref> The New York Times said that DoD made "lemonade out of lemons" and pieced together their strategy after it had been undermined by a phone call between U.S. President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan in December 2018, only to have it done again by another phone call between U.S. President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan in October 2019. They continued that the DoD would try to piece it together again.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/world/middleeast/syria-turkey-kurds-military.html |title=Caught Between Trump, Turkey, and Kurds, Pentagon Struggles to Piece Together Syria Strategy |last1=Cooper |first1=Helene |last2=Schmitt |first2=Eric |date=October 7, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Mulroy advocated for an international plan to deal with the problems of the ISIS prisoners and the IDP camps publicly just days before the green-lighted Turkish incursion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/there-is-no-plan-b-for-isis-prisoners/600187/ |title=There Is No Plan B for ISIS Prisoners |website=The Atlantic|date=October 17, 2019}}</ref> In early October 2019, the DoD pushed to get approval to keep a small group of forces located in Syria to be able to maintain the relationship with the SDF and continue the D-ISIS and stabilization mission.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ |title=Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Cooper|first1=Helene|last2=Schmitt|first2=Eric|date=2019-10-25|title=U.S. to Deploy Hundreds of Troops to Guard Oil Fields in Syria, Pentagon Officials Say|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/world/middleeast/esper-troops-syria.html|access-date=2020-08-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Prior to the Turkish incursion, called Operation Peace Spring, Mulroy stated that if they did invade northeast Syria, the Kurdish element of the SDF will defend their people and Syrian's will endure even more suffering.<ref name="auto8" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/10/turkey-incursion-northern-syria-islamic-state-us-officials.html |title=Turkish incursion threatens to unleash Islamic State in Syria, US officials warn |last=Detsch |first=Jack |date=October 7, 2019 |website=Al-Monitor}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Finnegan|first1=Conor|last2=Martinez|first2=Luis|last3=Raddatz|first3=Martha|date=October 7, 2019|title='They abandoned us': Commanding general of US-allied Kurdish forces in Syria|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abandoned-us-commanding-general-syrian-democratic-forces/story?id=66117726|website=ABC News}}</ref> The New York Times said that DoD made "lemonade out of lemons" and pieced together their strategy after it had been undermined by a phone call between U.S. President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan in December 2018, only to have it done again by another phone call between U.S. President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan in October 2019. They continued that the DoD would try to piece it together again.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/world/middleeast/syria-turkey-kurds-military.html |title=Caught Between Trump, Turkey, and Kurds, Pentagon Struggles to Piece Together Syria Strategy |last1=Cooper |first1=Helene |last2=Schmitt |first2=Eric |date=October 7, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Mulroy advocated for an international plan to deal with the problems of the ISIS prisoners and the IDP camps publicly just days before the green-lighted Turkish incursion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/10/there-is-no-plan-b-for-isis-prisoners/600187/ |title=There Is No Plan B for ISIS Prisoners |website=The Atlantic|date=October 17, 2019}}</ref> In early October 2019, the DoD pushed to get approval to keep a small group of forces located in Syria to be able to maintain the relationship with the SDF and continue the D-ISIS and stabilization mission.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ |title=Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Cooper|first1=Helene|last2=Schmitt|first2=Eric|date=2019-10-25|title=U.S. to Deploy Hundreds of Troops to Guard Oil Fields in Syria, Pentagon Officials Say|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/world/middleeast/esper-troops-syria.html|access-date=2020-08-10|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
In November 2019, the New York Times reported that Ambassador [[William Roebuck]], the senior U.S. diplomat in Syria, drafted a memorandum to the U.S. Special Envoy to Syria [[James Jeffrey]] that stated directly that the U.S. should have done more to stop the Turkish invasion into Syria. He said, “Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria, spearheaded by armed Islamist groups on its payroll, represents an intentioned-laced effort at ethnic cleansing and what can only be described as war crimes and ethnic cleansing.”<ref name="nytimes_2019-11-07">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/world/middleeast/us-envoy-william-roebuck-syria.html |title=U.S. Envoy in Syria Says Not Enough Was Done to Avert Turkish Attack |last=Schmitt |first=Eric |date=November 7, 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> He also warned that “we — with our local partners — have lost significant leverage and inherited a shrunken, less stable platform to support both our CT efforts and the mission of finding a comprehensive political solution for Syria.”<ref name="nytimes_2019-11-07" /> The article said the Roebuck was the "second senior American official in the past week who has questioned whether the United States pressed hard enough with measures like joint American-Turkish ground and air patrols along the border, to avert a Turkish offensive into northern Syria" with the first official being Mulroy in an interview with Defense One.<ref name="nytimes_2019-11-07" />
==== Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ====
==== Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ====