NBC News’ Richard Engel Blasts US Syrian Withdrawal as ‘Stain on History’: Kurds Fear ‘Trump Gave The Greenlight’ to Genocide

NBC News reporter Richard Engel condemned the abrupt withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria, calling it a “stain on history” and warning that Kurds in the region who feel betrayed by President Donald Trump fear his decision “gave the greenlight” to possible genocide by Turkey.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes from northern Syria, Engel reported that, despite their pullback from the Syrian-Turkish border, significant US forces are still present in theater and that, today, they came under direct threat from Turkey’s cross-border military campaign against the Kurds.

“There are still a thousand US troops in this country. People keep talking about American troops being pulled out, pulled back,” Engel corrected. “US forces, their location was fired upon. Artillery shells landed near their base. They had to pull back for their own safety and immediately complained to the Turks: ‘Hey, this is too close, don’t do this.’ And the Turks said in a statement ‘We did not target the Americans, we were targeting the Kurds.'”

“American troops have been put in an incredibly uncomfortable situation, an untenable situation, and for some of them they believe an immoral situation,” he added.

Hayes then asked Engel about the Kurds’s perspective on Trump’s sudden about-face on supporting them: “What was it like to watch this army and these people that have given their lives and blood and everything to defeat ISIS now find themselves under shelling and bombing from the other side, from the Turks?”

“It’s obviously a terrible betrayal, a stain on history to have an American ally betrayed,” Engel replied.

“The Kurds are deeply concerned this isn’t just a campaign by Turkey against the Kurds because the Turks don’t like the Kurds and they’re punishing them somehow,” Engel further explained. “The Turks believe that this is going to be a long-term campaign, and they want to settle this area. So the Kurds that we’ve been talking to say they are soon going to face a campaign of genocide, a campaign of ethnic cleansing that President Trump gave the green light to.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.