Erdogan will eradicate any IS left in Syria: Trump

US President Donald Trump late onn Sunday said his Turkish counterpart assured him that any remaining Islamic State group fighters in Syria will be eliminated, after Trump abruptly ordered US troops in Syria to leave.

"President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria," Trump said in a Tweet around midnight Sunday, using another acronym for the jihadist group.

Repeating a pattern of admiring comments towards global strongmen, Trump added that Erdogan "is a man who can do it."

Trump appeared to be elaborating on a phone call he had earlier on Sunday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

They discussed Trump's withdrawal of the US troops which were assisting in the multinational fight against IS, and whose departure has shocked global partners and American politicians alike.

"Our troops are coming home!" Trump said in his late-Sunday tweet.

The Syrian war began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fuelled by mass defections from the Syrian army.

At least tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria.

The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians have led to war crimes investigations.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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