Alwaght- US President Donald Trump has defended his decision about American forces withdrawal from Syria, while rebuking officials from his national security team who resigned this week.
US President took to the twitter on Sunday to criticize Jim Mattis and Brett McGurk who resigned after Trump declared on Wednesday his provocative decision to pull US forces out of Syria.
Following the announcement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offered his resignation with resigning from his post afterwards.
Trump said in a tweet Saturday that tenure of State Department's senior envoy to the so-called anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, was slated to expire in February, and accused him of blowing his exit out of proportion.
"Brett McGurk, who I do not know, was appointed by President Obama in 2015. Was supposed to leave in February but he just resigned prior to leaving. Grandstander? The Fake News is making such a big deal about this nothing event!"
In another tweet, Trump slated the media for their coverage of his decision, which several news outlets said was made without Trump first consulting senior officials at the Pentagon.
"If anybody but your favorite President, Donald J. Trump, announced that, after decimating ISIS in Syria, we were going to bring our troops back home (happy & healthy), that person would be the most popular hero in America. With me, hit hard instead by the Fake News Media. Crazy!"
In a later massage, he attacked Mattis directly, saying he had given the former general a second chance after first being fired by former President Barack Obama.
"When President Obama ingloriously fired Jim Mattis, I gave him a second chance. Some thought I shouldn’t, I thought I should. Interesting relationship-but I also gave all of the resources that he never really had. Allies are very important-but not when they take advantage of U.S."
He also criticized a section of the defense secretary’s official resignation letter that detailed the need for close ties with US allies.
Meanwhile, senior members of the Republican Party have expressed concern about Trump's decision, vowing to investigate the resignation of Mattis.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who said the resignation had saddened him, vowed to hold a hearing with Mattis in attendance to investigate the troop withdrawal.
“I’m going to ask for hearings like right now about Syria,” he said, before heading into a meeting with Republicans.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James M. Inhofe, who is a Republican from Oklahoma, noted that it was “inappropriate” for the president to have ignored his national security advisers.