The US is in the process of pulling all of its roughly 1,000 troops out of Syria, which is expected to take about two months, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the US pulled out of the Al Tanf Garrison, a base in southern Syria near the borders of Iraq and Jordan, and the Al-Shaddadi base in northeastern Syria. Both facilities were turned over to the military of the new Syrian government, which is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of al-Qaeda.
News of the pullout comes as the US is building up a massive force in the region to prepare for a potential attack on Iran. US officials told the Journal that the Syria withdrawal was unrelated, though the US bases in the country are vulnerable to Iranian missile attacks.
The report said that one reason the Trump administration has decided to withdraw from Syria was to “reduce friction” with the Syrian military, which US officials have previously acknowledged to the Journal is “riddled with jihadist sympathizers, including soldiers with ties to al-Qaeda and ISIS and others who have been involved in alleged war crimes against the Kurds and Druze.”
The presence of jihadists in the Syrian military was demonstrated by the December 13 attack in Palmyra, Syria, which killed two members of the Iowa National Guard and an American civilian interpreter. While President Trump blamed the attack on ISIS, the gunman was a member of the Syrian military.
After the Palmyra attack, the US launched a new military operation in Syria, dubbed “Operation Hawkeye Strike,” which has involved over 100 strikes on what US Central Command describes as ISIS targets. A senior Trump administration official told the Journal that the US would still have the ability to “respond” to any ISIS-related threats in the region after the withdrawal, suggesting the US may continue conducting strikes in Syria.
