U.S. Plans to Pull Its Remaining 1,000 Troops From Syria, Officials Say

The United States is preparing to withdraw the roughly 1,000 troops it still has in Syria over the next two months, U.S. officials told CBS News, ending a presence of about a decade in the fight against the Islamic State. The Wall Street Journal first reported the plan, citing three American officials; Fox News and Al Jazeera relayed the Journal’s account, and Al Jazeera said it could not immediately verify it independently.

Part of the pullback has already happened. U.S. Central Command announced Thursday, Feb. 12, that it had completed its withdrawal from the al-Tanf garrison in southern Syria, near the borders with Iraq and Jordan, Fox News and Al Jazeera reported. Al Jazeera quoted the command calling the exit an “orderly departure” that was “part of a deliberate and conditions-based transition,” and Syria’s Defense Ministry said its army took over the base through coordination with the American side. CBS said troops also left the al-Shaddadi base in the northeast; on Sunday, Syria’s Defense Ministry announced that its army had taken over that base after coordinating with the Americans, according to Al Jazeera.

Central Command said that despite the departure from al-Tanf, U.S. forces remain prepared to counter Islamic State threats, Fox News and Al Jazeera reported. The command said American forces have continued air strikes in Syria; Al Jazeera cited 10 strikes on 30 targets between Feb. 3 and 12, and both outlets said roughly 50 militants were captured or killed over two months.

The shift follows a rearrangement of Syria’s politics. The United States has been in Syria since 2015, backing an anti-ISIS coalition that included the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, CBS reported. Under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Syrian government clashed with the SDF before striking a deal last month to integrate the Kurdish-led group into the Syrian army. Al Jazeera dated the U.S.-brokered agreement to Jan. 29, calling it a fragile ceasefire. Officials told the Journal, as relayed by Fox, that the administration decided a continued military footprint was no longer necessary after those shifts on the ground. U.S. officials also told the Journal the decision is not connected to the American naval and air buildup elsewhere in the Middle East aimed at Iran, according to Al Jazeera and Fox.

The SDF had guarded prisons and camps holding thousands of Islamic State prisoners and their families, CBS noted. Earlier this month, U.S. forces helped move Islamic State detainees from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody, CBS and Fox reported. Fox added that officials indicated in late January that thousands more detainees could be moved. Fox noted that the shift in control followed the 2024 ouster of Bashar al-Assad.