Pentagon to Wind Back US Troop Footprint in Syria

The US military began to become involved in Syria in the early 2010s amid the country’s civil war and the rise of ISIS.

The Pentagon is preparing to reduce the footprint of Syria’s US military in the coming weeks, citing recent success against ISIS terrorist groups.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced on April 18 what the Department of Defense characterizes as a planned integration of Syria’s US military. Parnell said Defense Secretary Pete Hegses ordered the squad cut plan.

The US military began to become involved in Syria in the early 2010s amid the country’s civil war and the rise of ISIS. An internationally designated Salafisonni terrorist organization that declared a caliphate on its territorial territories spanning eastern Syria and western Iraq.

The US supported rebel groups fighting to drive Syrian Bashar al-Assad out of power, but in 2014 it officially committed its military to Syria on a more locked mission than stopping Isis. This counter ISIS effort was called an operational inherent solution.

“This integration reflects the key steps we have taken to reduce the appeal and operational capabilities of ISIS regionally and globally,” Parnell said. “This intentional and conditional process will bring Syria’s US footprint to less than 1,000 US troops in the coming months.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Pentagon and received no responses per publication time for details on the military drawdown and the timeline for this process.

Over the years, the Pentagon has routinely reported that around 900 US troops remained in Syria as part of operational inherent resolve. In December 2024, then-Pentagon Press Secretary, Major General Pat Rider, confirmed that the true presence of US military in Syria had expanded to around 2,000 staff.

Explaining the inconsistency in the report, Rider said at the time, around 900 units provided elements of Syria’s core US military, but this core element was strengthened by a short-term rotation of additional troops.

The US military has been boosting overall forces across the Middle East since October 7, 2023, with Hamas attacking in southern Israel.

Parnell said the US troops remain vigilant to reduce the footprint of Syrian troops.

“This integration is taking place and in line with President Trump’s commitment to peace through strength, the US Central Command will continue to be poised to continue strikes against the remains of ISIS in Syria, and will also work closely with competent and ambitious coalition partners to maintain pressure on ISIS and respond to other terrorist threats,” he said.

Parnell announced its continued success in degrading Syrian ISIS, but the country has been in flux since last fall. In late November 2024, a coalition of Syrian rebel groups led by Hayyat Tahrir Al-Sham launched a surprising attack to scatter Assad’s troops, drive the Syrian president to flee the country and abandon his power.

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham is another Sunni Muslim faction with roots in Al-Nusra, the Syrian dispatch of al-Qaeda. The US continues to designate Hayat Tahrir Alsham as a foreign terrorist organization, but since capturing the capital Damascus in December, the group has tried to rebrand itself as a more moderate force within Syria.

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham leader Ahmed Al Sharaa abandoned his nominal Abu Mohammad al-Jolani shortly after his group took power. Sharaa has since established himself as Syria’s interim president, and many of his Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham companions have filled in other positions in the newly declared interim government.

Despite his past, the US government had given Sharaa some room from December. The resigning Biden administration has withdrawn its $10 million bounty to the leader of Haatt Tahalil al-Sham and sent the Secretary of State for Barbara’s Near Eastern Leaf to meet him.

The Trump administration continued to provide Sharaa Leeway, providing support for plans to integrate US-backed Syrian democratic forces into the new Syrian government in March.

Since Assad’s collapse, Israeli forces have expanded their control over Syria’s Golan Heights and other parts of the country’s southwestern region. This week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that for the past 18 months it will remain indefinitely in security zones established within Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.