Delil Souleiman | AFP | Getty Images
A picture taken on April 2, 2018 shows a general view of a US military base in the al-Asaliyah village, between the city of Aleppo and the northern town of Manbij.
Brett McGurk, the special envoy for the global coalition to defeat Islamic State, submitted his resignation on Friday, effective Dec. 31, a U.S.State Department official said on Saturday.
A person familiar with the matter said McGurk has quit because he objected to President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out U.S. troops from Syria, a decision followed by the resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis a day later. CBS reported McGurk’s resignation earlier on Saturday.
In a Saturday evening Twitter post, Trump disavowed McGurk.
Donald J. Trump tweet: 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!
—CNBC contributed to this report.