Chaos in Syria, Washington after Trump call with Erdogan unleashed Turkish military

WASHINGTON — American forces in northeastern Syria received an urgent, unexpected alert early Monday morning to pull back from their posts.

"They were told, 'We're departing the field,'" said current and former senior U.S. defense officials.

At 3 a.m. local time, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Gen. Mazloum Kobane, also received a phone call from a senior U.S. official telling him to get on a video teleconference with an American military commander who informed him President Donald Trump had ordered U.S. troops to withdraw.

"This decision, this is something we don't expect at all," Gen. Mazloum said during an interview with NBC News Monday afternoon.