The US has pulled about 500 troops out of Syria in recent weeks, bringing the total number of US servicemen in the country to about 1,500.
The drawdown is part of a plan that the Pentagon announced in April to bring the total number of US troops in Syria to under 1,000. For years, the Pentagon claimed there were only 900 US troops occupying Syria, but the Biden administration revealed late last year that the real number was 2,000.
US officials told Fox News that as part of the recent drawdown, the US left three bases in Syria and either closed them or handed the facilities over to the US-backed Kurdish-led SDF.
“This includes Mission Support Site Green Village which has been shut down, and Mission Support Site Euphrates which has been handed over to the SDF. US troops have also vacated from a third much smaller outpost,” Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin wrote on X.
The US uses the threat of ISIS in Syria to justify the occupation of eastern Syria, but the presence was also part of the US’s strategy to put pressure on the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted from power in December 2024.
The US drawdown in eastern Syria comes as the Trump administration has embraced the new Syrian government, which is led by former al-Qaeda leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, and began lifting sanctions that were designed to prevent Syria’s reconstruction under Assad.
