The administration of US President Donald Trump is proposing to end funding for UN peacekeeping missions, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA, citing an internal document it has seen.
The reason is problems and failures in the operations of the missions in Mali, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Washington contributes the most to the UN budget, along with China, which is in second place. The US contribution makes up 22 percent of the $3.7 billion UN budget and 27 percent of the $5.6 billion budget for peacekeeping operations. These payments are mandatory.
The UN peacekeeping budget funds nine missions – in Mali, Lebanon, DR Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, Cyprus, Kosovo, between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and in Abyei, an administrative region jointly administered by Sudan and South Sudan.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric declined to comment on the information, which is part of an internal debate and has simply leaked to the media at this stage.
The US military is ready to reduce the number of its troops in Syria, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA, citing officials.
This could happen in the coming weeks or months. With this move, only 1,000 American soldiers could remain in Syria out of the current 2,000 or so US troops.
The US troops are in several bases, mainly in the northeast of the country. The soldiers are working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group, which seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014 but was later defeated. The United States has recently sent aircraft, including B-2 bombers, warships and air defense systems, to bolster its presence in the Middle East. Syria's Islamist-led government took power after President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December. It has sought to restore Syria's ties to the region and beyond. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US, signed an agreement with Damascus last month to merge the Kurdish-led administration and security forces with the central government.
In March, the US gave Syria a list of conditions it must meet in exchange for partial relief from sanctions imposed by Washington on the Assad regime, but otherwise the Trump administration has had little dialogue with the country's new rulers.
Some White House officials have sought to take a tougher line on Damascus, highlighting the new Syrian leadership's former ties to "al-Qaeda".