The U.S. Department of Defense is planning a full withdrawal of American forces from Syria following President Donald Trump’s recent interest in pulling troops out, according to two defense officials cited by NBC News.
According to the report, the Pentagon is preparing withdrawal scenarios with timelines of 30, 60, or 90 days.
Approximately 2,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Syria, a figure significantly higher than the 900 troops previously acknowledged by the Pentagon.
The core 900 troops are deployed to support the ongoing operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) while the additional 1,100 troops, classified as “temporary rotational forces,” are deployed for missions lasting between 30 and 90 days.
Defense officials have expressed concerns that a full withdrawal could destabilize the region, particularly impacting the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) ability to maintain security in northeastern Syria.
The SDF, a key US ally in the fight against ISIS, currently oversees more than two dozen prisons and refugee camps, which house over 50,000 individuals, including approximately 9,000 ISIS fighters.
The group on Wednesday said they have not received any withdrawal plans from U.S. forces in northern and eastern Syria. “Of course, ISIS and other malicious forces are waiting for the opportunity of the U.S. withdrawal to reactivate and reach the state of 2014,” SDF’s spokesperson Farhad Shami told Reuters.
In 2014, the Islamic State was at its strongest, controlling much of Iraq and Syria, and terrorizing millions.
SDF Commander General Mazloum Abdi earlier urged Trump to maintain U.S. troops in Syria, warning that a withdrawal could lead to a resurgence of ISIS and destabilize Kurdish-controlled areas in the region.“The key factor of stabilisation in this area is the U.S. presence on the ground,” Abdi told The Guardian.
The potential withdrawal of U.S. forces echoes Trump’s controversial decision in 2018 to pull U.S. troops from Syria, which led to the resignation of then-Defense Secretary James Mattis.
A subsequent partial withdrawal in 2019 allowed Turkey to launch an offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, capturing territory and further complicating the regional balance of power. Turkey views the SDF as affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it considers a terrorist organization.
When asked about the possible withdrawal of American troops during a recent media event, Trump said: “Syria is its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don’t need us [to be involved] in every one.”
