The US Department of Defense is said to be drawing up plans to withdraw troops from Syria following President Donald Trump's recent comments.
NBC News recently quoted two US defense officials revealing that the Pentagon is drawing up plans to withdraw troops from Syria in 30, 60 or 90 days after President Trump and close aides expressed interest in this issue.
US soldiers patrol near oil wells in Hasakah province in northeastern Syria in 2021.
At a media event last week at the White House, when asked by a reporter if he had informed the Israeli government of his plan to withdraw troops from Syria, President Trump replied: "I don't know who said that, but we'll make a decision on that. We're not going to be involved in Syria. Syria's a mess enough there. They don't need us involved."
In December 2024, the Pentagon announced that there were about 2,000 US troops in Syria, more than double the number publicly disclosed in years. The Pentagon later explained that the additional force was only a temporary rotation of 30-90 days, while the core force was 900.
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US forces are fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and supporting local partners there. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of armed groups led by the Kurdish YPG militia, are US partners and guard more than 20 prisons and refugee camps housing more than 50,000 people, including about 9,000 IS fighters.
The SDF announced on February 5 that it had not received any plans from US forces in northern and eastern Syria to withdraw, according to Reuters. "Of course, IS and other evil forces are waiting for the opportunity of the US withdrawal to reactivate and reach the state of 2014," said SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. At the height of its power in 2014, IS controlled most of the territory in Iraq and Syria.
According to NBC News, President Trump ordered US Defense Secretary James Mattis to withdraw all troops from Syria in late 2019, but Mattis objected and eventually resigned. Trump withdrew most of the troops but later brought them back.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/my-chuan-bi-ke-hoach-rut-quan-khoi-syria-185250205215629875.htm
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