The U.S. military is set to consolidate its presence in Syria over the coming weeks and months, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday, in a move that could reduce the number of troops it has in the country by half.
A soldier from the US-led coalition holds the hand of a boy during a joint U.S.- Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) patrol in the countryside of Qamishli in northeastern Syria February 8, 2024. Reuters/Orhan Qereman
The U.S. military is set to consolidate its presence in Syria over the coming weeks and months, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday, in a move that could reduce the number of troops it has in the country by half.
The U.S. military has about 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria across a number of bases, mostly in the northeast. The troops are working with local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria but was later pushed back.
One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that consolidation could reduce the number of troops in Syria to about 1,000.
Another U.S. official confirmed the plan for a reduction, but said there was no certainty on numbers and was skeptical of a decrease of that scale at a time when President Donald Trump's administration has been negotiating with Iran and building up forces in the region.
The United States has recently sent aircraft including B-2 bombers, warships and air defense systems to reinforce the Middle East.
Trump said on Monday that he believes Iran is intentionally delaying a nuclear deal with the United States and that it must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face a possible military strike on Tehran's atomic facilities.
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is carrying out a global review of U.S. military troops around the world.
The Islamist-led government in Syria that took over after Bashar Assad was ousted in December has sought to rebuild Syria's ties in the region and further afield.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the U.S., last month signed a deal with Damascus on merging Kurdish-led governing bodies and security forces with the central government.
The U.S. gave Syria a list in March of conditions to fulfill in exchange for partial sanctions relief but the Trump administration has otherwise engaged little with the country's new rulers.
Some White House officials have been keen to take a more hardline stance, pointing to the new Syrian leadership's former ties to Al-Qaeda as reason to keep engagement to a minimum.
By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
yrian Air, the state-owned airline of Syria, has announced the resumption of its direct flights to Dubai and Sharjah, marking a significant development in the gradual normalization of ties between Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Officials will discuss major steps to restore support for Syria from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund at spring meetings next week, though sanctions remain a major obstacle to rebuilding the country, a U.N. official said on Friday.
With his campaign promises unfulfilled to quickly bring peace to Gaza and Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump has turned to another high-profile challenge that could be just as elusive: curbing Iran's escalating nuclear program.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.